Tomorrow Begins Today
by kcat1971
Summary: [Transitions Universe Story #8] Josh & Donna experience the Santos Inauguration. (January 2007)
1. Chapter 1

I'm laying on my back staring at the ceiling. I've been laying here awake for a while. Around 4:30, Donna had finally had enough of my tossing and turning. She used her magic touch to try to calm me down the way that only she can. It worked. I'm calmer. Donna fell back to sleep but I couldn't. I don't want to jump on the treadmill this morning. I want to be here when she wakes up. I lean over and check the clock again. 6:02. Should I give her another half hour? It's going to be a long night. I feel her shift next to me, then her hand slides down my arm. I turn to her and she gives me her sweet smile. I know she's excited too. Normally, she wouldn't be so happy at 6 am but it's a big day for both us of us.

I finger the black strap of her negligee. She was so focused on my needs earlier, she didn't even take it off. Well, now it needs to come off. I want to focus on her. I slide the strap off her shoulder, then lean over and kiss her collar bone. She sighs softly.

An hour later, we're getting out of the shower and Donna is starting to stress about the time. She's standing in front of the mirror wrapped in a towel, drying her hair. I brush it aside and kiss her collar bone again.

"Oh no, bub. That's what got us behind schedule to begin with!"

"But I like your behind." I smirk giving it a little squeeze. She whirls on me.

" _JOSH_!"

I grin at her unrepentantly. But I leave the bathroom to get dressed. If we keep moving we'll be okay on time, but she's right. We don't really have time for round 3. When I'm done dressing she's just finishing her make-up. She's still only wearing a towel. God. She's killing me here.

The coffee's ready. I even have it in to-go cups. Her bagel is toasted with just the right amount of cream cheese. Our garment bags with all of our things for the balls are by the door ready to go. What else can I do to help?

I walk over to her closet. I wonder if she decided what to wear? She bought several new suits last week. As of last night, she still hadn't made a final decision which one she was going to wear today. We don't have time for a clothing crisis. I pull out the plum. It's my favorite. The color is dark enough that from a distance that it almost looks black so it's conservative, but once you are close enough you can see that it's got a bit of color. I lay the suit on the bed. Then I walk over to her new dresser. When she showed me this outfit before there was a matching sweater. That's a good thing because it's going to be cold. I'm tempted to switch her outfit for a pants suit, but all the women will be wearing skirts. I pull out what looks like her thickest pair of pantyhose. Man, the things we put women through. Speaking of which, while I'm in the top drawer, I look through her underwear. I'm tempted to lay out a red lacy thong. It's one of my favorites but I don't know if it's comfortable for her. My goal is always to get her out of it as quickly as possible. It's going to be at least 20 hours before I can do that. Plus knowing that she's wearing that under her clothes all day is a bit masochistic. Instead, I choose a basic silk pair of panties. I think this color is called lilac. She has a matching bra. It's pretty.

Donna comes out of the bathroom and stops short when she sees the clothes on the bed. She turns and looks at me with one eyebrow quirked. I grin at her. I hope she sees this as a loving gesture. I'm really not trying to be patronizing or a sexist or whatever.

"Well," she says, "at least its not a plaid skirt." I let out a small groan. Great, now I'm going to be thinking about the Catholic School Girl Uniform from our honeymoon.

But then she drops the towel, and I forget about everything except how much I adore her body.

I start to take a step towards her, but she holds up a hand and laughs at me.

"You know we don't have time for that!" She's right. I sit down on the bed to watch her dress.

She doesn't hesitate or even look at her closet, so either she's placating me or she doesn't mind what I picked out. Either is fine with me. We really don't have much time before we need to be out the door. Once she's dressed she twirls once for me.

"What do you think? Do I look professional?"

"You look amazing. But you are missing something."

Her brow wrinkles as she looks herself over.

"Oh! Shoes!" While she gets them out of the closet, I stand up and reach into my pocket. When she turns back around I'm holding out a small box.

"What's this?" She asks.

"Open it." I'm bouncing a bit on the balls of my feet. I hope she likes them. She flips the box open and gasps.

"Josh. They're gorgeous! Thank you!" She gives me a quick kiss and wraps me in a hug.

I watch her in the mirror while she's putting the earrings on. We are both smiling.

We did it. All our hard work, all those late nights, all that waiting for the right time to be together. We've finally hit payday. We are ready to walk into the White House as equals. Ready to guide the executive branch together. Ready to serve the President and the First Lady. Ready to make the world a better place.

Tomorrow begins today.

"Ready?" I ask her.

"You bet your ass."

That's my girl.

"Let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

We pull into the Chief of Staff's parking spot at 7:30. It was really nice of CJ to walk today, now we won't have to move the car later. Josh looks over at me and grins. I can't help but grin back at him. His enthusiasm helps keep my nervousness at bay.

"C'mere." Josh leans toward me. I meet him in the middle and we share a long kiss.

"I love you so much." He says. "I just want you to know. Nothing I do is more important than you. There will be late nights and travel for both of us, but this job isn't more important than our marriage. If I ever have to choose. I'll choose you."

I'm amazed at the man he's become. It might have been a long road to get here but I think we are better for the journey.

"I choose you too." I give him another quick kiss. "I love you."

As we get out of the car, Josh looks at the back seat where our garment bags are spread out. "So what should we do with our dress clothes?"

"Helen wants us to get ready in the residence. Maybe CJ would be okay with us leaving them in her office until after the ceremony?" That would make it more convenient to retrieve them later. We'll both start working as soon as we get back from the inauguration. Josh will have immediate access to his office, but I haven't been assigned an office yet. Something to do with remodeling.

We gather our bags and walk in the door. Margaret is waiting at her desk outside the COS office. She takes one look at our bags and picks up the phone.

"Set them there." She points to a chair.

"This is Margaret. I need an usher." She says into the phone. When she hangs up, she looks to me. "Do you know where you are getting ready?"

"The Lincoln Bedroom." Even as I am saying it, I can't quite believe it. It's unreal. But Margaret looks nonplused. I'm so glad she'll be here. Then she looks over at Josh.

"You need to head over to Blair House. Senior staff in 10 minutes. By the way, Ginger said to tell you that Sam and Lou are still working on the speech."

Josh and I leave the White House together. This will be my first Senior staff meeting as Senior Staff. I won't always attend, but my title is Chief of Staff to the First Lady and Assistant to the President. I serve them both. Plus this meeting is primarily to go over today's schedule so a joint meeting makes more sense. In the future, I'll be holding my own staff meetings.

When we get to the drawing room, Matt and Helen are just finishing breakfast. Ronna is sitting in a chair with a clipboard. Did I ever look that young? She's wearing an interesting outfit. An olive jacket over a sweater and skirt with brown boots. I remember when I was trying to figure out what to wear to work at the White House. It isn't that easy. And given the temperature, the boots aren't that bad of an idea. I look down at my suit and smile. It feels good to look professional. I'm not going to let Josh pick out my clothes everyday, but he did alright. I sit in the chair across from Ronna, closest to Mrs. Santos. Annabeth is lounging on a loveseat across the room. She's got her blackberry in hand. Matt and Helen are bickering playfully.

Josh takes the chair closest to the President-Elect. He looks around the room then glances at his watch. "Lou and Sam are polishing your speech." He says to the President-Elect. "They'll have a final draft for you by 10. Edie is over at the Capitol making sure everything is running smoothly there. Brahm should be here by now." He glances at his watch again.

Josh wasn't sure Brahm was up for the job as Press Secretary. He was planning to put him in operations somewhere, probably as an Assistant Deputy or something. But the President-Elect had wanted Brahm on Senior Staff. With Edie as Lou's Deputy Communications Director and Lester turning the Press Secretary position down, the job fell to Brahm.

Brahm runs into the room with a pile of papers in his hand. The President-Elect smirks at him. And I see Josh studying them. He once said it bothers him when the President listens to anyone but him. I really hope he's outgrown that. If Josh tries to be the only guy the President can count on, we'll never have a life. Brahm launches into a recitation of the days events, and I see Josh relax a little. The kid has it under control and Josh let's him basically run the meeting. I'm really proud of him.

Everyone contributes a little to the meeting. I seem to be the only one who knows that JCCIC stands for Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, but I guess that's okay. We'll only need to know that one more time after today. We seem to have a good rapport. As meetings go, I'd say it's a success. Matt and Helen continued their banter throughout the whole thing. At one point, he even suggested that she show some leg and hitch a ride to the ceremony.

Helen's still asking questions about the nine balls and I answer them for what feels like the hundredth time. Josh shoots me a look. I can tell he's wondering why we are still talking about this. Shouldn't she already know what's going on? When Helen looks away I shoot a look back, trying to convey that I've got it covered. I really think she's just nervous.

At 8:15, I stand up. "Sir, Mrs. Santos," Helen raises her eyebrows at me, but doesn't complain. I mean I legitimately could have Ma'am'd her there, "we should leave for the church now." I hope the nanny has the children ready to go. It will only take a couple minutes to get to Georgetown in a motorcade but we need to be there in 15 minutes. We definitely don't have time to wrangle children.

"Yes, of course." Helen stands as well which creates a chain reaction around the room.

"I'm going to meet with CJ while you are gone. Give it one more shot at bringing her on board." Josh says to the President-Elect, who nods. Josh surprises me by coming up and placing a chaste kiss on my cheek before he leaves the room.

"Have fun at church." He smirks.

As everyone is filing out of the room, the President-Elect says-

"Donna." So I hold back a second. I wonder if he's going to tell me to keep Josh in line on the kissing. Instead, he surprises me.

"I had a little talk with Josh about your no kissing at the office rule. While I appreciate your professionalism, I have a rule too. Always kiss your wife before you leave. I hope you're okay with that, but if I need to, I'll make it an order."

"I serve at the pleasure of the President." I say with a smile. I know the title is a little premature but Matt smiles back at me.


	3. Chapter 3

"Josh! Fancy meeting you here."

"Mallory!" I didn't expect to see her today. I wrap her up in a hug, and I notice she holds on just a bit longer than normal. Today can't be easy for her. We were supposed to be watching Leo become the Vice-President. I hold her until she decides to let go.

"Did you just come from seeing the President?"

"No, CJ." Really? She and CJ were friendly, but I wouldn't have expected her to come here just to say goodbye to CJ.

"I didn't want to disturb him today, but I brought something by." I think I understand. She did come here to see the President, but once she got here she decided not to go through with it. I look at her closely, her eyes are a little watery, I don't deal well with crying so I do what I always did when we were younger and she looked like she was going to cry. I tell her a stupid joke.

"Hey- I've got a question for you!" Her head pops up at my tone. I think she knows where this is going.

"If the purple man lives in the purple house and the orange man lives in the orange house and the red man lives in the red house. . . .who lives in the white house?" I don't wait to see if she'll answer.

"The President!"

She groans but she's smilng so I tell her another.

"What do you call someone in the white house who is honest, ethical, smart & law abiding?"

"A tourist!"

"Don't let the President hear you tell that one!" She smacks me on the shoulder, but laughs, so it worked.

"How's the baby?"

"He's great. All boy."

"I still can't believe you didn't name him after me." I tease her.

"You'll have to have one of your own for that."

"I'm working on it." I meant for it to some out as a joke, but my voice does something weird and I miss the teasing tone. Her head pops up again. And our eyes meet. She's known me a long time. Suddenly, I desperately want to see some sort of acknowledgement that it would be okay if I pass my genes along.

"Really? That's great." Once I have her confirmation, I go back to teasing.

"Well, we're not preventing anything and we _are_ having quite a lot of sex." I wiggle my eyebrows at her and she laughs again.

"Well, um, Congratulations! Seriously. I'm so happy for you and Donna. Dad always said that sooner or later you'd get your head out of your ass."

"He always was an optimist."

That really gets her laughing. Then she abruptly stops.

"I really miss him, Josh."

"I know, me too, Mal." I give her another hug but this time she lets go quickly. I see it in her eyes. She needs to get out of here.

"Hey, I've got a meeting." She looks grateful for the out and takes a step down the hall. It suddenly hits me that Mallory's the closest thing I have to a sibling. We spent quite a few family vacations together during our awkward years. And while we've never been super close, we've always had a good relationship. But we've always had our fathers to keep us in contact. I really do want to keep in touch with her or I might lose more than just Leo.

"Don't be a stranger, okay?"

"You know, New York isn't that far" she tells me starting to walk away, "You & Donna could come visit us. We even have the Mets."

"I hear they're pretty good." I smile at her and give a little wave. "Seriously, Mal, I'll have Donna call you."

"Okay" she calls over her shoulder with a smile.

Margaret waives me into CJ's office. I look around for a minute. I think I will have them paint. I'm not really a fan of this cream. I liked the blue color Leo had.

"Did you ever stop thinking of this as Leo's office?" I ask CJ. Maybe that's why she had them paint.

"No." At least she's honest. I don't know if I'll be able to either.

"Hey- I've got something for you." She hands me a post-it note. Gee, you shouldn't have ceej.

"WWLD?"

"What Would Leo Do?" Well, I don't need a post-it for that. It's usually my first thought already. God. I wish he were here.

"You're gonna do great Josh, you don't need me." I appreciate her confidence. Honestly, I didn't think CJ could handle the job when she took it either. She's grown into it quite nicely. If she can do it, so can I.

"Is the President in?" I ask. I'd like to see him in the Oval Office one more time.

"No, he's making the rounds, saying goodbye to all the staffers. Then he has to go to the residence to change for the reception. You'll see him there."

"Is it okay if I go in?"

"Sure."

I walk through the doorway from CJ's office into the oval and it hits me that this is the end of an era. The next time I walk through that door I'll be Chief of Staff for President Matthew Santos. A man who is only a year older than I am. A man I consider a friend, rather than a mentor. A man who I convinced to take on this mantle of leadership. I stand a little taller. I'm ready.

Donna and I have been meeting with the Bartlets weekly during the transition. When the President had told me that everyone was counting on me after Leo's funeral, it freaked me out a little. I wasn't sure I could live up to the expectation. But he's been incredibly encouraging. More than that, he's been a great teacher. Very practical, telling me the things Leo would have told me if he'd been here. How to act in the Sit Room, How to get the President Out of a Meeting, Who's who on the residence side of the building. He reminded me that having a code phrase like "an old friend from home," is a really useful tool. I had 7 years of on the job training as DCOS but I feel like I've learned more in the last 6 weeks. He really has stepped into Leo's shoes and become my mentor. And all the while Mrs. Bartlet has taken Donna under her wing. It's been incredible watching her blossom. Six weeks ago she was nervous and uncertain, but now she feels equipped. She's so ready to do this job, and she believes in herself as much as I believe in her. We are ready.

The last time we met with the Bartlets, we said our private goodbye. Mrs. Bartlet gave Donna the phone number for the Farm. She told us to call whenever we needed them. Made us promise to come visit them sometime after the first 100 days. As we left he'd put his hand on the back of my head and said "I'm proud of you, son, thank you." I was barely able to choke out my own "Thank you, Mr. President."

Today's goodbye will be professional. Maybe it's a good thing it won't happen in the Oval.


	4. Chapter 4

We arrive at Holy Trinity right at 8:30. It takes a few minutes to get us all into our seats, then the service starts. It occurs to me that as long as I am traveling with the first family probably I won't miss the start of anything. So technically, we won't be "late." But it's my job to try to make sure that no one is waiting on us.

I'm not really used to Catholic services. I keep watching Peter and Miranda for clues on when to stand up and sit down. Finally Peter picks a book up and opens it and hands it to me. It has today's date on it and lists the order of service and all the prayers. This is very helpful. Even though this service is very different from my parents church, some things are the same. Specifically, it's a bit too long for a 5 year old. Miranda is getting a little restless. When no one is looking I hand her a roll of lifesavers.

After church, Matt and Helen get into the limo. Helen seems very snarky this morning. I think she needs all the alone time she can get with Matt, and the truth is there won't be much of it today, so I head back toward one of the SUVS.

"Tia Donna!" Miranda calls out. "Can you ride with us?"

"No, sweetheart, I'm sorry. You guys are going to Blair House to get ready. Ms. Schott and I have to go back to the White House for a reception." She seems disappointed but the Nanny gets her into the car with Peter so they are ready to go.

Annabeth and I get into another SUV.

"The homily was a little pointed don't you think?" She asks.

"I wasn't really listening." I confess. She laughs a little.

"I notice all the guys bailed on church."

"Yeah, well, Josh is Jewish. Other than funerals and weddings, he doesn't attend if he can help it. And honestly we're hoping that other than Sam & Ainsley's wedding neither of those is necessary any time soon."

"So will you attend with the Santoses every Sunday?"

"No, I have my own way of observing the sabbath." I smile to myself as I think of how Josh and I like to spend Sunday mornings. "Today was a press opportunity. I thought we should both be here, but for regular Sundays I don't think that's necessary. The truth is I don't think Helen will want to be staffed during church."

Annabeth looks thoughtful for a moment. I hope she isn't thinking of trying to make the Santos' faith a press opportunity every week. Helen wants some degree of normalcy in her life. I hope church can be that for them.

The motorcade pulls up to the White House. Originally we were all supposed to go back to Blair House, but we just didn't have time. I look at my watch. It's 10:10.

"Damn. We're late."

"It's not your fault, Donna." Annabeth tells me. I know it's not but it is my job to try to prevent it whenever possible. We got to the church a couple minutes behind, so the service started late and then the priest went a little long. This is how schedules get shot to hell. In the future, I'll have to remember to allot more time if there is a Mass on the schedule. Generally speaking, Mrs. Santos doesn't want events on Sundays, so most of the time I won't have to worry about it.

Actually, for the next few hours, it's not my job to get us anywhere on time. It's the the JCCIC Scheduler's job. Right now we have the reception for the Inaugural Speakers and special guests, from here we'll all be escorted to the Capitol for the actual swearing-in, then there is the Inaugural Luncheon and the parade. Then finally, the Santoses will return to the White House. At that point, Mrs. Santos and I will meet with some of the residence staff, while the President and Josh meet with the Joint Chiefs. Then we'll all get ready for the Balls.

Josh is waiting by the door when we arrive. The President-Elect nods to him as he and Mrs. Santos walk by. They head toward the north door of the blue room so that they can enter with President and Mrs. Bartlet. Josh falls into step beside me.

"You're late." He whispers.

"It didn't start yet." I answer.

"I know but it's after 10. I was on time. You're late." He knows I hate to be late.

"I'm not in charge of how long church lasts, Josh."

"I'm just saying."

"Well, I guess I could become a nun. Then, I could run the church. Of course, there are things I'd have to give up."

I give him a pointed look. That shuts him up quick. But his lips quirk up. Even though I just won the verbal sparring match. He enjoyed the game.

We hear them announce the President and Mrs. Bartlet, and the President-Elect and Mrs. Santos. Shortly after the four of them walk into the north end of the room, Josh puts his hand on my lower back and guides me through the south door.

I start to head toward the back corner to observe, but he steers me toward Evelyn Baker Lang. She's one of my heroes. She's apparently very fond of Josh.

"Josh! Shall we chat about the weather?"

"Your Honor" he says "I love your shoes!" They laugh together. My husband has inside jokes with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Unbelievable.

"Actually, I'd like to introduce my wife." He grins full force at her while half-turning toward me.

"Madam Chief Justice, this is Donnatella Moss Lyman, Mrs. Santos' Chief of Staff."

She grasps my hand in both of hers.

"So lovely to meet you." She smiles at me genuinely.

"The honor is all mine Ma'am. I'm a big fan."

"Well, thank you. You know, I wouldn't be here without Josh." He smiles bashfully at his shoes, but I know he considers it one of his greatest accomplishments.

"Oh no," he says "I just helped facilitate."

Someone is hovering nearby for an opportunity to speak with the Chief Justice, so Josh excuses us, placing his hand back in it's favorite spot on my back as we walk away.

"That was so cool." I grin at him.

"The feeling never goes away." He responds.


	5. Chapter 5

We are in an SUV with Ronna, Brahm, Annabeth heading over to the Capitol. Everyone is chattering excitedly. It's their first Inauguration. Donna's eyes are sparkling with excitement. It will be her first time on the dais.

During President Bartlet's first administration, I had a seat near the the back. Donna had watched on a TV in the foyer of the Capitol. As soon as President Bartlet had sworn the oath, she and a group of Assistants had been taken back to the White House to finalize the transition. She had been waiting for me in my office when I returned. She already had a few of my personal things there to welcome me: a picture of me and my grandfather, my Jericho poster, a campaign photo of all the senior staff. I don't think I even noticed until several weeks later. I really did take her for granted back then.

Donna stayed home during the second swearing-in. She told me she watched it on TV. She said she didn't think she deserved to be there. I had tried to talk her into coming, but in hindsight it was a smart tactical move. If I had seen her before I knew what really happened we would have had to have words, and it wouldn't have been pleasant. Leo probably would have torn into her also. I wouldn't have fired her- but I don't know if I would have been able to stop him. I had been working on contingency plans. Once I figured out what happened, I alternated between wanting to hold her, never letting her go, and wanting to shake some sense into her. Why would she sacrifice herself for him? Didn't she know how desperately I needed her? That night was the first time I really looked at her with my eyes open. Hey, that sort of makes it our anniversary.

Donna and I are shown to seats in the middle of the audience. We are in the first row of unimportant people. As CJ would stay, we are at the top of the things no one cares about. But, they are still very good seats. As we mingle and shake hands with those around us, I notice that Donna isn't wearing any gloves. I wrap my arm around her back and lean into her ear.

"Where are your gloves?" She shrugs in a away that I find both enduring and annoying. It's her 'It doesn't matter' shrug. It does matter. It's cold out here. I take my gloves off and hand them to her.

"Put these on."

"But then your hands will be cold." When is she going to learn that my physical comfort isn't more important than hers? That I'm not going to be happy knowing that she's uncomfortable. Her comfort and well-being are at the very top of the list of things I care about.

"I'm fine. Please, just put them on." She smiles at me and slips her hands into my gloves. Then she links her arm through mine. This is going to be the best inauguration yet.

When they announce President and Mrs. Bartlet, the crowd stands. For just a moment, I feel a pang of disappointment. We didn't accomplish everything I had hoped. President Bartlet was the real thing, but he was still just a man. A man with flaws that almost destroyed us more than once. Sometimes his expectations and demands were too high. Sometimes he was too hard on his staff. But, he always wanted to do his best. He always wanted to make the world better. And that was good enough for me. I'm proud to have served him. And I am thankful for the journey that brought me here, to this moment, standing next to this woman.

When they announce Mrs. Santos, Donna claps even louder. Then they announce the next President of the United States. This is it. Now we begin. I barely hear the innovation. But when Matt Santos swears to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, I wrap my arm around Donna and pull her close. We did this. We made a man President. Together.

I'm so ready to begin that I find it difficult to concentrate on the Inaugural Address. I've heard it before, when we vetted the language and Matt practiced. But something new catches my attention-

 _. . . . and as we educate others, for we can all be teachers, we must not do so out of a place of superiority, expecting others to earn their place next to us, for they already have that right simply because they are fellow human beings. Instruction must come from love, with the true desire to help someone become better, and it must come with the understanding that we ourselves must constantly strive to improve. For lessons delivered with a cold heart and brutal strength do not inspire reformation; they invite resistance._

I barely keep my mouth from dropping open. I whisper in Donna's ear-

"Did you write that?!" I heard her say almost the exact same thing a few nights ago when Sam and Ainsley were over for dinner.

"No, of course not. Sam and I were just bouncing some ideas around. He was looking for something between the world power section and the education reform section."

My wife just never stops amazing me. She helped write the Inaugural Address and she doesn't even realize it. I'm going to have that part printed, framed, and hung in her office.

When the speech is over, the crowd cheers. Everyone on the dais stands for the benediction. Then, the ceremony is over. The President and Mrs. Santos will accompany the Bartlets to their limo, then they will be taken to the Inaugural Luncheon. Donna and I will meet them there, with the rest of senior staff.

The luncheon is tedious. Although the food _is_ a little better than the last two. The cuisine reflect the home states of the new President and Vice President, so for the past two, it has been mostly seafood, with a nod toward Texas. This year the Texas food has the prominent place, and since we don't have a Vice-President the secondary food is sort of just "standard fare." The First Course is a choice between Texas Bean Salad- a mixture of corn, beans, onions and tomatoes or a plain caesar salad. An easy choice for me. The second course is Prime Texas Ribs of Beef au jus or a vegetarian option. I take the beef although I don't end up eating much of it. The Third Course is four mini-scoops of Blue Bell Ice Cream. One of each of the first family's favorites. While we eat, the luncheon program includes speeches, gift presentations from the JCCIC and toasts to the new administration. I can see that Matt just wants to get out of there and get to work, but the President is patient and gracious.

When the luncheon is finally over, I steal a few moments of his time.

"Mr. President," I smile as I use his new title for the first time. "The Staff and I are going back to the White House. While you and Mrs. Santo attend the parade, we'll get everything up and running. I'll have my first senior staff meeting with them while you are gone. Once you are back at the residence, I have a meeting with Secret Service, but I'll join you as soon as that's done. You have the Joint Chiefs at 4. "

"Do I really have to go to the Parade?"

"Yes. I know you want to govern. The ceremonial things are part of that. The People need to see you to believe in you. You have to inspire them to follow you. Governing doesn't just happen in the Oval Office."

"Okay. And Josh, thank you. For everything."

"Thank you, Mr. President."


	6. Chapter 6

"Home Sweet Home" Sam says as well all clear security and stop just inside the foyer. Ronna and Brahm look awe struck. Josh, Sam and Annabeth look satisfied. I feel giddy. I try not to let it show. Giddy doesn't seem professional. I'm just so happy to be walking through these doors as an equal with Josh. We are going to do amazing things. I touch his arm slightly and head off toward the East Wing. Annabeth follows along.

One of the deputy ushers, Glen Herald, meets us to explain that the suite Mrs. Bartlet used as offices is being refurbished. The marble and crown molding will be restored. It will take about a year, at which point we can move back in. To be honest, I'm not completely unhappy that I don't have to start out in Amy's old office. And I don't think Helen cares at all.

Typically, the Office of the First Lady has around 15-20 staff people. That includes some departments that already have their own office space in the East Wing, like the Offices of Graphics and Calligraphy, the Office of the Social Secretary, the Office of the Executive Chef and the Office of the Chief Usher. The Chief Floral Designer has office space and her own staff in the West Wing basement. Technically, these departments are part of my scope of authority, which is managing the agenda and day to day operations of the Office of the First Lady. But really, most of those people were here long before me and will be here after I leave. My job will mostly be to coordinate with them. Mrs. Santos insists that she and the President do not care at all about flowers. So hopefully the Florist's office can just run itself.

Mr. Herald opens the door to our temporary space. This suite will need to accommodate Mrs. Santos, me, Annabeth, and our assistants, as well as Mrs. Santos' Secretary. The main area is a large room with lots of natural light. But there are only two awkwardly placed desks, no bookshelves, no furniture, and no phones in here. Mr. Herald points to Annabeth's office door and she goes in to look at it.

"Ms. Moss, if you'll follow me." I follow him, wondering if if I should say something about my name. Moss is technically my middle name now. I finally got all the paperwork done. My new credentials show "Donnatella Moss Lyman." I want to make sure that my desk plate is correct too.

He opens the door to a huge office. It's big, but it's not functional. No computer, no phone. It's also not really decorated, just a strange painting on one wall, an ugly mirror over the fireplace, and an odd lamp on the desk. I hope Helen will believe me when I tell her it needs decor as much as it needs a computer. It won't cost much- all the art work will be on loan from museums and there is furniture in storage. I'm glad to see there is room for a sitting area. I can picture a couch, a couple chairs and some end tables. A sitting area is a good place for a more relaxed meeting. And when the kids want to visit, they will have a comfortable place to sit.

"We're hoping this will meet with your approval."  
"Oh, it's lovely." Well, it will be when I'm done helping her decorate. "I'm sure the First Lady will be very happy here."

"Oh, no, I'm sorry. The First Lady's Office is next door. As her Chief of Staff, this would be your office."

"Yes. This will be fine." I say in my most professional voice.

Mine?! I can hardly believe it. This is a long way from my cubicle. He walks out of the room and I take a minute to look around again. I'd better find out if that's a working fireplace before Josh visits. Then, I turn to follow him, so that I can see the rest of the space.

There is no connecting door to the First Lady's office but I don't think that will be a problem. Helen's office is every bit as big as mine. It actually has more windows. It has a nicer desk and already has a sitting area, as well as a small table. It looks like someone made an effort to have this room ready for us to view. Plus, it has a phone, so it's already more functional than mine. Honestly, though, I don't expect Helen to want to come down here today. I'll be happy if I can get her down here sometime next week.

"Ms. Moss? Is this acceptable?" Mr. Herald asks, gesturing to the room.

"Yes. Thank you." I pause, then decide to go ahead and say something.

"You know, my last name isn't Moss."

"What?"

"My name. It's Donnatella Moss Lyman. Do you have it correct on your paperwork?"

"Oh yes! I'm so sorry Ms. Mo- Ms. Lyman. It does say that. I know we only met once before, but I've always remembered you. I just didn't realized you'd changed your name."

"No problem, Josh and I have only been married two months. There was an announcement in the Washington Post, but a lot of people still seem surprised." Why am I telling him this? I don't know. I doubt he cares.

"Well, yes. I'm sorry. Is Ms. Lyman okay or do you prefer Mrs.?"

"Ms. is fine."

We walk back into the main room and I switch back into business mode.

"Okay. We need another desk in here. This area will have my Assistant, Ms. Schott's Assistant, and the First Lady's Secretary. We'll also need a waiting area, with a couple of couches, some chairs and some end tables. I will also need some additional furniture for a sitting area in my office." I talk out loud while writing notes on my legal pad.

"Actually, Ms. Lyman, there is another office in this suite." He walks to the other side of the room and opens another door. This office is about half the size of mine, but it has a desk and a small table with 2 chairs.

Just then Annabeth walks out of her office.

"Annabeth, is your office fully furnished?" I ask her.

"um, It has a desk."

"Well, let's just see." I say, striding toward her office. Mr. Herald smiles at me. I think he likes my take-charge personality.

Annabeth's office is very similar to the other empty office. I think our staff meeting on Monday is going to involve sorting out the office space and decorating. I hate to waste time on such trivial things.

If we would have had access to this office space earlier, I could have used the transition time to have it all ready. I had expected just to use Mrs. Bartlet's. Someone really dropped the ball. At some point, I intend to find out who it was. But for now, I smile at Mr. Herald.

"This space will be fine. Please make arrangements for the computers and phones to be installed as quickly as possible. Can you also arrange for Gail Addison to meet here with me and my staff first thing Monday so we can finalize the furniture and decor?"

"Yes, of course, Ms. Lyman."

"Thank you."

Mr. Herald leaves and I turn to Annabeth.

"Well, this space is virtually useless to us right now. Can you go check in with Mrs. Santos, then go to the Press Secretary's office in the West Wing if you need to do anything? If not, go home and get ready for tonight. You should be in the lobby by 7 if you want to ride in the motorcade. Please tell Mrs. Santos that I'll meet her in the residence at 4, like we planned. I have to go now. I have a meeting with Josh and the Secret Service at 3."


	7. Chapter 7

As I race into Ron Butterfield's office, his secretary smiles and waives me in. I slide into a chair in front of him. Donna is already there. I look down at my watch. 3:05. Damn.

"You're late." She sings. I know payback when I hear it. Ron just shakes his head at us.

"Hello, dear." I'm not even going to try to win this one. I _am_ late.

"I'm surprised because you control your own schedule." She continues the banter. Well, I wasn't going to do this in front of Ron, but if she _really_ wants to play. I look right into her eyes, and I use my sexiest voice-

"But you know how much I like it when you take charge."

Ron interrupts before we can really get started. "Well the two of you have always made this job just a bit more interesting. Haven't you?"

I'm not really sure what he means by that. But he starts on his agenda for this meeting so I let it go.

"Okay, let's talk some basic secret service protocol for the First Family. I have gone over this with them but as their Chiefs of Staff, you need to be aware as well. Let's start with Secret Service Code Names. Generally, everyone in the same family has a name that starts with the same letter. The President chose his air force call sign: Badger. Mrs. Santos is Bluebonnet. Peter is Beluga."

"That's unusual." I interject. I wonder if he'll like that.

"Well since November he's been spouting off whale trivia just about non-stop to the agents. I understand we have you to thank for that book." Ron looks at Donna who blushes but looks pleased. Ron continues.

"Josh, you should really like Miranda's. Her code name is Ballerina." Donna snickers.

"Is there anyone who hasn't heard that story? I was four!" Ron's lips quirk up in a small smile, but he just goes on with the briefing.

"O.k. even when in the residence, all the members of the First Family will have a shadow agent with them at all times. Outside the residence but within the White House itself, the President will have two shadow agents. And they will each have a full detail when they are away from this building."

"The security measures for the children attending school are in place. Kevin and Linda will attend class with Peter and Miranda, and they will each have an additional guard outside the door to their classroom and there will be a guard at each entrance to the building while the children are present. The children will arrive and depart one hour earlier than the other children. The school staff has been fully vetted and obviously any new hires must be approved through my office. They are set to begin on Monday."

I don't really like the idea of them attending public school. Matt and Helen made this decision while Donna and I were in Hawaii. While it fits nicely with their populist message and his Education Reform agenda- I wouldn't have advised it. It seems like a big risk. There are several private schools in the District that already have the children of dignitaries attending and have excellent security measures that we could enhance. Prep school didn't hurt me any.

"Ron, how do you feel about the situation?"

"It wouldn't have been my first choice, but we have it under control." He turns to Donna.

"I've been over this with Mrs. Santos and the children, but given the amount of time the children will be in public, I really need to make sure you all understand this. You must all be very vigilant in reporting any unusual activity, email, communication, contact. Even if something's not a threat, if it gives you any pause, bring it to us. Let us determine if it's important. If it's nothing we'll dismiss it, but you never know how the pieces fit together unless you can see all the pieces. Please make your staff aware of this as well. If something seems weird. Let us know."

Donna has been listening and taking notes. At the word "weird" her head pops up. She blushes a little but she nods. I'm going to have to ask her about that later.

"Okay," Ron says "moving on to staff protection protocol. Returning staff will keep their previous code names."

"Ah man! I wanted something tougher this time!" Ron looks at me with a smile.

"Josh, do you still have it?"

"Yes."

"Did you carry it into the building today?" I'm sure he already knows the answer to these questions.

"Yes."

"Then your code name is still Backpack. Get over it. Donna's keeping her name too."

"Wait a minute," Donna interjects, "I wasn't senior staff. I didn't have a code name."

I take her hand. "Yes, you did." I shutter, remembering a letter where a lunatic said he was collecting guns and each one had a bullet with Donna's name on it. The Secret Service had intercepted the letter and determined it not to be a credible threat because the writer was already incarcerated. Ron brought it to my attention and left it to my discretion whether or not to tell her. I hadn't told her about it. I didn't want her to live in fear.

"You got your code name after Rosslyn." Ron states. What? I didn't know that. I thought she got it when they opened that letter.

"The only person who spent more time at GW after Rosslyn, other than the secret service, was you, Donna. You knew all the agents by name. They gave you a nickname of their own. Mrs. Bartlet ordered an extra agent on Josh's temporary detail, specifically assigned to watch out for you."

Ron turns to back to me, "Mrs. Bartlet was concerned that at some point Donna was just going to drop, you didn't see what it was like, we were all very worried. But she just kept going." Ron smiles fondly at Donna. "And her rules after you were released really made the agents' jobs a lot easier!"

"So what's my code name?" Donna asks.

"Bulldog!" I tell her excitedly. She's got an awesome name. Really, it should be mine. But she looks disappointedly at Ron.

"Oh, that doesn't sound very nice. Why did they call me that?" She asks. Ron actually blushes a little.

"Well, the nickname the agents gave you was 'The Bulldog's Babe.' We just shortened it. Like I said, you two have always made this job a bit more interesting."

I'd never heard that before. Did everyone know about us but us? Anyway, if I can't be Bulldog I'm glad Donna is. Ron and I both look at her to see what she thinks.

"Well, okay, then I guess that's alright."

"Okay." Ron says "let's talk about your protection detail."

"Donna and I have talked about this. We don't know if we really want a detail. I know that sometimes CJ used one and sometimes she didn't."

"Given your histories, and the current situation in Kazakhstan, I'd prefer that you have a full detail. Generally, when there is a military action occurring, the Chief of Staff has increased protection. But at minimum, I'd like you to have a car and driver, plus one agent for each of you when you are traveling to and from the White House. Of course we will re-evaluate if there is any new information or things in Kazakhstan escalate."

"What do you mean 'our histories'?" I ask Ron. He's blunt in his reply.

"You both survived assassination attempts. Sometimes that prompts the crazies to think they should finish the job." I get a chill. I'm reconsidering whether to minimize Donna's protection.

"What do you mean new information?" Donna asks, "Like if we get _actual_ threats?" Something about the way she says the word "actual" sets off my spidey-senses and Ron looks like he just went on high alert too.

"Donna," he says carefully "everything I said about "weird" contact applies to you two as well."

"Oh." She says blushing again. I know that look and that tone, it unusually means she has more information than she's shared.

"Donna, what haven't you told us?" I ask sternly.

"Well, it's kind of funny. I actually have an electronic folder labeled "weird" for emails that just seem a bit odd."

"Have you received any emails that you thought were a bit odd?" Ron asks.

"Yes, but not about the first family."

"Okay," Ron says, picking a pencil to take notes, "Who is the email addressed to and what did it say?"

"It's addressed to me and it says "I hope you wear a red dress to the Ball." What the. . .

"When did it arrive?"

"Oh, the first one came the Friday after Thanksgiving." The _first_ one?!

"Have there been others?"

"Yes, I get the same email every Friday." Oh. my. god. I don't like the sound of this at all.

Ron looks carefully at Donna. "This is exactly the type of thing we want to monitor. Do you still have the emails?"

"Yes, they are transferring all my transition email over to my new computer." While Ron picks up the phone to call systems to send him the email, I squeeze Donna's hand.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"I didn't think it was a big deal. It's a little weird that someone wants me to wear a red dress but its not threatening, and it's not about the first family. I figured they'd stop after tonight, right?"

"Donna, what color is your dress for tonight?" Ron asks.

"Black." She answers. "Why is that bad?"

"I don't know." Ron responds.

"We'll take the full protection detail." I tell him. Donna starts to protest but I silence her with a look. No. We aren't playing around with this. I hope its nothing, but until we know for sure, I'm not taking any chances.


	8. Chapter 8

As Josh and I leave Ron's office, tensions are running a little high. As soon as we are out the door, he strides toward the West Wing. He's scowling. My stomach is clenching and I feel my heart thumping in my chest. I don't like this feeling.

"Are you mad at me?" I call after him. I said it so quietly, I don't know if he'll even hear me, and I'm not even sure I really want to know the answer to the question. I feel a little lightheaded. He stops suddenly, turns and quickly walks back to me. His face has softened. He takes me in his arms and I immediately put my head on his chest, his heartbeat is reassuring.

"I just don't like this." He sounds frustrated. "I wish you had told me about those emails so the Secret Service could have been checking this out. I love you. I just want you to be safe." I let go and step back. Then he kisses my cheek. "I'm sorry I forgot to do that a minute ago. I'm supposed to be in a meeting with the Joint Chiefs. Are you okay?"

"Yes, as long as you aren't mad at me, I'm okay. Go on. I need to go meet with the First Lady anyway. I'll see you later." I feel better now. Josh heads back toward the Oval and I walk over to the stairs to go to the Residence.

Helen is in the family living room with the children when I walk in at 4:15.

"I'm sorry I'm late." I tell her.

"It's okay. My trusty agents- she nods her head down the hall where three agents stand- let me know that your meeting with Ron went long. Is everything okay?"

I look pointedly at the children. "Let's talk about it later." I respond and Helen nods.

"Tia Donna! Can you come see our rooms?" Miranda says excitedly. I look over at Helen.

"Please. They have been very anxious to show you." She says quietly.

"Yes, absolutely. I can't wait to see them." Miranda grabs my hand and drags me out of the living room and down the hall to the West Room. She's grinning as she opens the door slowly.

"It's gorgeous, Miranda." It truly is. Zoey's old room has been painted a light sage green. The furniture is ivory colored French Provencal. There is a gorgeous vanity with a stool, draped in a pink silk cover tied with a big bow. The bed has pink silk sheets and throw pillows covered with pink rosettes. A pink canopy cascades down from the wall. There are comfortable chairs in front of the fireplace and a small table with a tea set. There is a wooden doll house in one corner. The room is cast in a warm glow from a beautiful chandelier and there are pictures of ballerinas on the walls. The room is fit for a princess but is also warm and inviting. Helen won't need to have it redecorated anytime soon.

"Look at this!" Miranda says pulling out a trundle from under her bed. "You can have a sleepover with me!" I smile gently at her.

"Well, Uncle Josh and I are sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom tonight."

"You could sleep here."

"Uncle Josh doesn't like to sleep alone." I whisper to her. "He gets scared."

"Um, Tia Donna?" Peter asks quietly, "would you like to see my room?"

"Yes, of course, Peter. Please show me." I follow him over to the East Room and he opens the door and smiles. One of the walls is a floor to ceiling bookcase. It's filled with a mixture of old and new books. The rest of the walls have been painted to look like a stone castle. A book marked "potions" is laying on a small table in front of a small bookcase filled with colorful old glass bottles with cork stoppers. A gnarled stick is lying next to it. There is a coat of arms hanging over the fireplace, which is glowing with LED Candles. There is a stuffed snow owl perched in the window. I thought they had planned a cowboy room? Suddenly, I remember Peter's Halloween costume.

"This is great Peter. Is it a wizard's room?"

"Yes." He smiles softly. He's a huge Harry Potter fan. He sits down on his bed and picks up a book.

"Tia Donna!" Miranda calls from the hallway. "Do you want to see the rest of the house?"

"Sure." I hope she just means the Residence and not the whole White House.

"Let's go!" She exclaims. She shows me all the rooms on the second floor, except the Master bedroom. I don't have the heart to tell her I've seen these rooms before. They only redecorated the kids rooms.

"There are a bunch of rooms upstairs too. Wanna see?"

"Of course." We head for the backstairs and I notice that two of the agents follow us, while the third maintains his position just outside Peter's door. Helen harrumphs and then sighs deeply. On the third floor, Miranda shows me the game room, music room and work out room. There are also six bedrooms up here.

"That one is Nanny Maria's room." She says pointing to a closed door. If I remember correctly that room actually has an attached sitting room. Good choice for a live in Nanny.

"She's on a break right now." Miranda says. Helen looks at her watch. "Actually its almost 5. Tia Donna and I need to have a meeting and get ready. Do you want to go read on your own or play a game with Nanny Maria?"

"Play a game."

Helen knocks on the door and a young woman answers. I helped Helen go through resumes, but she and Matt had done all the interviewing themselves. I haven't been formally introduced yet. "Maria, I want to introduce you to my Chief of Staff. Donnatella Moss Lyman, I'd like to introduce Maria Sanchez. Maria, this is Donna Lyman."

"Ah! Tia Donna! I've already heard so much about you!" She smiles at me.

"Maria, Donna and I need to have a meeting and start getting ready soon. Miranda would like to play a game and Peter's in his room reading." As we head down the stairs, one of the agents stays outside the game room, while the other follows us to the West Sitting Hall. On the way into the room, Helen asks an usher to bring us coffee. Then she sits down in a chair and sighs. I sit down across from her. I feel like sighing too. Instead, I try to be up-beat.

"So. . . . How ya doin'?" I say in a Josh-like voice. Helen bursts into laughter.

"I don't know. This is absolutely surreal."

"Yeah," I confess, "I probably shouldn't admit this, but I'm a little shell-shocked myself."

"Oh, Donna!" Helen says, "I know you'll be a great Chief of Staff but right now I could really use my friend, especially my friend who understands how crazy this is."

"Okay," I say relaxing a bit, "I'm here."

"So . . . .How are you doin'?" she asks me.

"Well, our offices aren't fully furnished and don't have computers or phones. And Josh has decided that I need a full Secret Service detail because someone wants me to wear a red dress tonight."

"But your dress is black." She looks confused.

I don't really get it myself. Josh has always had a fan club and only had protection for a little while after Rosslyn. Why does it matter if one person hopes that I'll wear a red dress? This just doesn't seem like a big deal. I know Helen isn't that thrilled with people following her around in their own home. I can't imagine someone else living with Josh and me! We ran out of time to have the discussion with Ron about what a full detail will look like. Since we were planning on spending the night in the Residence anyway, and won't be going home before then, Ron decided that he'll add extra agents to tonight's detail and we'll meet again Sunday afternoon to finalize the rest.

"Well, it seems that I may have a fan. I keep getting an email that just says 'I hope you wear a red dress.' I don't think it's a big deal. But Josh is over-protective. And as you know, Ron would prefer we all had full protective details anyway. We have another meeting tomorrow to finalize the arrangements." I make a grumpy face.

"Ugh." Helen responds, "I hear you. I mean, I obviously want the kids to be safe, but I can't imagine why they need someone stationed outside their bedroom door. Frankly, I don't want to imagine a reason why they need that! And I really don't like to think about someone standing just outside _our_ bedroom door." She drops her voice. "Sometimes things get a bit loud." She blushes. She's forgetting that I know what they did to the bed in Cleveland.

"I can totally relate." We haven't destroyed any furniture yet, but we are working on christening every piece.


	9. Chapter 9

I need to get my mind off the Secret Service meeting and focus on the one that's happening right in front of me, but truthfully this meeting is just an opportunity for the Joint Chiefs to posture, so I'm not really missing anything. I can't help but keep circling back around to what happened in Ron's office. Donna could be in danger; Donna kept those emails from me; I never told Donna about the other threat. Donna could be in danger!

I know she's not thrilled with the idea of a Secret Service Detail. When we were talking about it in the abstract, I was willing to minimize the detail, maybe even forgo it completely because I wanted to make her happy. But even though I thought we could do with out them, I was not really opposed to the idea of having a detail. After Rosslyn, there was an agent posted outside my door at the hospital and then at my apartment while I was recovering. Once I was cleared to return to work, I had a car and agent for several months. An agent standing outside my apartment didn't really have that much impact on my life. Other than work, I wasn't going anywhere and I certainly wasn't having any company other than Donna. And it's not like Donna and I were having sex in the living room or anything. Oh! Well, maybe an agent is going to be more of an inconvenience this time.

I tune back into the meeting before my thoughts can drift into something that could leave me in an embarrassing situation. General Alexander is still arguing for 10,000 more troops in Kahazstan for logistical support. I've read the briefing memos. Everything in this meeting is very repetitive. But President Santos is very concerned about the situation in Kahazstan. He wants to hear from these men directly even if they are just repeating their memos. I find their body language and attitudes to be more informative than what they are saying. And I'm watching President Santos to see how he is reacting to both the information and the manner it which its being presented. It will be interesting to see whether he decides to replace the Chairman and Vice-Chairman or continue with President's Bartlets appointments.

I turn my attention to Sam and Brahm. Oh that's going to get annoying, they have rhyming names, I may have to give one of them a nickname. I guess I could start calling Sam, Princeton. That's his secret service code name. No way am I calling him "Spanky or Sparky" I don't even want to know how CJ came up with those. I guess either of them is better than Idiot Boy. Focus, Josh, Focus. I tune into the meeting again. Still nothing new here folks. Sam and Brahm both appear to be paying attention, however, so that's good. I will simply ask them later if ANYTHING new was said.

I look around the room again. This time I notice the Secret Service agents. There is one in the corner of the room and I know there is one just outside the door, by Ronna's desk. Two guard the doors leading to the West Colonnade. Truthfully, I haven't paid that much attention to them over the years. Is having armed guards surround your family really that bad of an idea? If it keeps them safe, it certainly doesn't seem like a bad idea to me. I remember back to a time in a Georgetown bar, with Zoey and Charlie. I was glad for the Secret Service then. When we have kids, it would certainly make it easier to let them out of my sight, knowing that they were protected. I'm starting to think about keeping the detail, even if these emails turn out to be nothing. If I can't be with Donna 24/7 why wouldn't I want highly trained agents watching out for her? I can certainly give up sex in the living room for safety's sake.

Finally, this meeting is wrapping up. I swear, they just kept repeating the same things. It will be interesting to get everyone else's take on it. As the Joint Chiefs file out, Brahm, Sam and I step up to the Resolute Desk. Right away the President says- "They want 10,000 more troops in Kahazstan on the ground for logistical support." Yes, we know, they said that about a hundred times during the meeting. President Bartlet wouldn't have tolerated hearing the same thing over and over.

Luckily for me, Sam speaks up before I can say something sarcastic. "Public opinion is already divided over our mission in Central Asia. Do you really want to be putting more troops on the ground your first week in office?"

Good Boy, Sam! I think to myself. His role here is to voice the political implications of decisions.

"We may not have a choice." President Santos responds. Ah. I'm going to have to help him see that he always has a choice. Some choices are just more difficult than others. But we aren't making decisions today. We are just getting a feel for what this job is going to entail. I feel a goofy grin break out on my face. President Santos looks at me strangely.

"What?"

"You just look good back there, that's all." He smirks at me. I'm not kissing up. He really does look Presidential. He handled himself really well during that meeting. I just have to remind him that he controls the meeting. He doesn't have to listen to the same thing over and over again. The Joint Chiefs are there to advise him; they aren't there try to bully him into their way of thinking.

Ronna pokes her head in to remind us that its almost 6 pm and the wives want us in the Residence to get ready.

"Tell Helen I'll be there in about 15 minutes." He says. She nods and leaves. I'm sure that message will get conveyed to Donna as well.

"What's next?" the President asks. Ah! I wonder if he learned that phrase from Bartlet or if it's just ingrained in every great President. Either way, it's music to my ears. Brahm and Sam excuse themselves, hopefully to go summarize that meeting, and I move around to my place next to the President's desk.

"Sir, Senate Democrats want you to move fast on the Education Bill."

"What do you think of that?"

"I think Education should be the focus of our first 100 Days. Obviously, we have to deal with Kahazstan, but let's not lose sight of what you want to achieve. I've been thinking we may do better with smaller Education Reform Bills rather than trying to pass some massive sweeping overhaul. Maybe we start with teacher tenure before we try to extend the school day. I think we should start holding meetings on Monday. Let's take some temperatures and see where we can get the most traction to start."

The President grins at me.

"What?"

"You look good sitting there, that's all."

I laugh at him, then glance at my watch.

"Sir, our wives?"

"Yeah, no point in getting in too much hot water our first day. Let's go." He stands up, then looks around a second.

"Maybe you better lead." He says with another grin.

"We can get to the Residence from the West Colonnade." I say gesturing toward the glass doors. "You'll have an agent walking in front of you and one behind you. Once you say where you are going they'll get you there." He looks at the agent in the corner.

"We're going back to the Residence now."

"Very good, Sir." The agent responds. "Badger and Backpack on the move." He says into his wrist.

"Backpack, huh?" The President says with a smirk.

"I don't want to talk about it." I say automatically. Then, as soon as we are out of the Oval, I say-

"Actually, we do need to talk about it. During the meeting with Ron, I discovered that Donna has been getting some unusual emails. Possible stalker."

"Oh. She didn't tell you?"

"No."

"You pissed?"

"Yeah."

"Tread lightly, my friend, tread lightly." He advises.

"Yeah, we didn't have time to have words about it earlier, but she could tell I was upset."

"Did you walk away mad?"

"No. Well, I started to," I confess. "But she called me back. Man, she looked so scared for a minute. This whole thing is tearing me up. She doesn't know this but there was a death threat against her about 3 years ago. The Secret Service determined it to be not-credible because the guy was already incarcerated."

"You didn't tell her?"

"No, I didn't want to freak her out."

"Well, that was probably okay then. But you're going to have to tell her about it now so that she knows why you're freaking out. How worried is Ron about these emails?"

"I don't know. He hasn't seen them yet. Donna says it's just one email every Friday encouraging her to wear a red dress. It's probably nothing, but we aren't going to take any chances. We are taking the full detail that Ron is recommending."

"Good." We arrive at the Residence and Matt calls out

"Honey, I'm home!"


	10. Chapter 10

Helen, Miranda and I are enjoying some quality girl-time while getting ready for the Balls. Miranda and Peter get to attend the first ball before coming home. She is chattering excitedly. Her excitement reminds me a little bit about how I felt getting ready for my first Inaugural Ball.

The whole day had been amazing. I was so proud standing there watching the President get sworn-in, and then we were rushed back to the West Wing so we could start moving our bosses into their offices. There wasn't much actual work for us to do that day, mostly just try to get the "lay of the land." I had fussed over Josh's office quite a bit, trying to add some personal touches along with making it as practical and functional as possible. Tickets to the balls were a hot commodity and none of the assistants had them. But Mrs. Landingham, Margaret and I got to ride with the motorcade. I knew that if I missed the motorcade I would be out of luck, so I got ready in a West Wing bathroom and then sat in Josh's office until he came in and asked me to tie his tie.

The Cosmetology Room sure is a far cry from a West Wing Bathroom! My nails are almost dry when Miranda skips over to show me hers.

"Now I have sparkly nails to match my sparkly dress!" I pull my hands out from under the dryer so she can put her's in.

"They're very pretty." I tell her.

"I like your's too, Tia Donna." I usually just get a basic nude manicure. But today I'm sporting silver sparkle. I'm not really sure I like it, but Helen and Miranda can be very insistent. Apparently, in Texas, it's all about the bling. Helen was surprised at the dress I chose. I had to remind her that I'm not trying to be the center of attention. She can wear all the bling she wants. I'll be happy not to stand out.

While Miranda was getting her nails done, the hair stylist had been pulling large rollers out of Helen's hair.

"How are you wearing it?" I ask. On the campaign trail, Mrs. Santos usually had her hair in a bun or French twist. At home, Helen usually keeps it pretty simple, straight or a pony-tail.

"We're going full glam tonight. Long and loose, lots of volume. Matt is going to be very happy." She says with a wink. She's right. Guys do have a thing about long blonde hair. For the longest time, I thought Josh preferred brunettes. He's completely set me straight about that. He has a really hard time keeping his hands off my hair. When we are relaxing at home, his hand is almost always smoothing my hair from the top of my head down my shoulders. I've almost given up on ponytails, because he just ends up tugging them out. When we kiss, he usually has at least one hand tangled in my hair cupping the back of my head. And when we make love . . . well, now's not the time to be thinking of that.

"Having ever present shadows might be a bit disconcerting but having your own beauty salon kind of makes up for it!" Helen's comment snaps me back to reality.

"What does this do to the populist message, though?" I ask, finding myself slipping back into political operative mode.

"You know what? Right now, I don't really care!" Helen replies. But I'm still in work mode for another minute.

"Actually, having this room and the stylists come to you, is probably cheaper than the cost of Secret Service and a motorcade to take you to a Salon. I don't think the American public as a whole decries every bit of protection and practicality."

Helen just raises an eyebrow at me. "Yeah, we'll go with that." Then we both burst into laughter.

Once Helen's hair is done, she moves over to the manicurist and Miranda sits down in front of the hair stylist. She starts out with ringlets, but quickly realizes that Miranda's straight silky hair isn't going to hold them very long. I can totally relate to that too. I tried the same look four years ago.

Getting ready for the Inaugural Balls the second time around was excruciating. Josh had called me several times during the day to see where I was. He was pissed about the quote but he told me to come to the Inauguration anyway. We'd deal with it later. But I didn't go. I didn't want to face anyone. I watched the ceremony on TV. After the ceremony, Josh called again. He said he missed me. He had wanted me by his side during the ceremony. I had earned my spot. One mistake didn't matter. He almost begged me to come to the Ball. I reminded him that I still didn't have a ticket and that I still couldn't get in without him.

Then I got dressed and did my hair. The whole time I was getting ready, my heart was hurting and my mind was racing. It was half self-flagellation; half hope that he'd come get me. The whole time I had been dating Jack I knew I didn't love him. But, I thought if Josh didn't love me, maybe I could learn to love Jack. Then Josh had made a comment about Jack wanting to be transferred. It hurt. And I was angry. Then Jack suggested I take the blame for the quote, and I was more hurt. Because once again, a man just wanted me for what I could do for him. Jack probably thinks I took the blame because I loved him, but that wasn't why. When he said "I could lose my career, but Josh would never fire you!" I decided to see if it was true. If Josh had fired me, at least I'd know for sure how he felt about me. But then he hadn't fired me and I'd spent 3 more years wondering how he really felt. At least my hair had looked good when he got there to pick me up.

The stylist changes tactics on Miranda and pulls her hair up into a high ponytail. She fixes the curls and sprays the life out of them. Then she looks at Helen, who nods in approval. She adds a couple sparkly barrettes and Miranda is finished. I take her place in the stylist's chair and she looks at my hair the same way she just studied Miranda's. "Up-do?" She asks. I nod and she starts working on a French twist.

"Can I go put my dress on now, Mommy?" Miranda asks.

Helen looks at her watch, it's just past 6. "No, go have something to eat in the kitchen. You can put your dress on at 7. And tell Peter it's time to eat too." Miranda is smiling as she skips out of the room. Helen looks at me.

"I asked the kitchen to send up some finger foods for us too. I wasn't sure if we'd be able to eat at any point tonight?"

"Good idea. All the balls will have appetizers. But I never saw President or Mrs. Bartlet eat. There are just too many people to greet and thank. But if you get a chance to sneak a piece of coconut shrimp, do it. It's really good."

Helen is sitting with her hands under the dryer and the stylist has just finished my hair, when we hear Matt bellow "Honey, I'm Home" from the hallway. Helen immediately grins. I love their playful banter.

The Bartlets had bantered with each other too, but it had a different tone to it. It bordered on adversarial most of the time. During the first campaign, it scared me. They can both be very intimidating. But now that I know them better, there is no doubt of their love for each other.

Matt and Helen don't really intimidate me. I have deep respect and an appropriate amount of deference to the President and First Lady, but Matt and Helen actually remind me of Josh and me. They truly enjoy each other's company. They flirt like crazy. And they bring the banter!

As the guys poke their heads into the room, Matt says "You've got your own beauty salon! Man, this is a good gig." He walks over to Helen and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "Are they going to make you look presentable?" She kicks him in the shin but her eyes are sparkling. "You know, I bet I could get Don Vogel to take me tonight." She tells him. She can tell by the way he's looking at her that he likes what he sees.

"Not worried. I've got agents to take him out." He leans down and whispers something in her ear and she immediately blushes.

"We're going to get ready now." She says as they rush out of the room. "See you in an hour."

When I look back into the mirror, I see Josh behind me, leaning against the doorway, looking at me with undisguised lust. I wasn't sure if he was going to like the up-do, but I guess I have my answer. He saunters over and starts planting tiny sweet kisses on my neck. When I start to pant, he stops and spins the chair around.

"Why did you stop?" I whine.

"First of all," he smirks "this might not be the most appropriate place to make-out. Second, I really want to do more than those little tiny kisses, God, I want to leave a mark on your neck!" He groans the last part. The way he's looking at me, I almost want to let him. Instead I take a deep breath.

"No, it would be a really bad idea to leave a mark," I get up and push past him, making sure that my body brushes up against his. As I walk out of the room, I call back over my shoulder "where anyone can see it." I walk slowly toward the Lincoln Bedroom, counting in my head as I go, I'm not even to three when he catches up to me and grabs my hand and pulls me along. He's walking much faster than I was. As he opens the door to the bedroom, I barely notice the extra agents standing there.


	11. Chapter 11

I pull Donna into the Lincoln Bedroom and practically drag her over to the bed. I take her face in my hands and kiss her passionately, backing her onto the bed. Then I go back to placing small kisses along her neck and collarbone while I slowly unbutton her blouse. I kiss my way to the hollow of her neck.

"Tell me when I'm in the safe zone." I whisper.

I slowly kiss my way down the front of her, from the base of her neck, between her breasts, over her sternum, down the flat plane of her abdomen, until I reach her belly button. I stop and look up.

"Just how deep is the neckline on this damn dress?!" I growl.

"I just wanted to see how low you'd go." Donna actually laughs at me!

"Josh, I hate to tell you this, but. . . "

"Then don't." I interrupt. I place another kiss on her belly. I know what she's going to say. We don't really have time for this. We have time for a quickie, but that's not really our style- unless the quickie can be immediately followed by slow and sultry. We are well versed in managing our desire and sexual tension. I guess tonight that's going to be a good thing. I step back and look at her laying on the bed, blouse unbuttoned, chest heaving. It's good to know she wasn't completely unaffected by my kisses.

"God, you're so beautiful. I don't want to go anywhere- I just want to make love to you all night."

"Sure, that's a good idea. Let's just tell our bosses that." She snickers at me. She's in good humor and it is actually making it easier to stop myself from completely ravishing her. I rub my hands through my hair.

"Do I have time for a quick shower?" I ask as I start stripping off my suit.

"Make it fast!" She orders.

When I get out of the shower, she sitting in a short silky robe finishing her make-up. Is she trying to kill me? I walk over and place another kiss on her neck. It really does take all my will-power not to mark her there. Then I have an idea. Presumably whatever she's wearing under the robe will help me figure out the "safe zone." I pull the chair away from the vanity and knee in front of her, then I slowly untie the robe. She isn't wearing a bra, but I try not to let that distract me. I place my fingers gently on her ribs, "Is this in the safe zone?" After she slowly nods, I replace my fingers with my mouth. She giggles softly until I suck harder. Her low moan almost finishes me, but I persist. When I am done there is a dark red oval. I kiss it softly and then look up into her eyes. "Mine." I say before I get up to go put on my tux.

As I'm heading to the wardrobe, I call back over my shoulder, "We'll just have to pick up where we left off once we get back from the balls."

"Josh, were not really going to have sex in the Lincoln Bedroom." She calls back to me. I don't think she's serious. But I'm not taking any chances, so I turn around to plead my case.

"This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

"With Miranda Santos 50 yards away and looking for a sleep over, what could go wrong?" She laughs at me. I think she's kidding. Please, let her be kidding.

"I'm sure she'll be asleep by the time we get back." I state with authority.

"We'll see." She winks at me and I feel a bit more optimistic about the rest of my night.

My tux is nicely pressed and hanging in the wardrobe. Staying here definitely has it's advantages. While I'm getting dressed, she's slipping into her gown. That's the price I pay for fooling around earlier, I don't get to watch her get dressed.

When I come back out of the closet, with my tie hanging loosely around my neck, she's standing in front of a full length mirror. She's stunning. The dress itself is simple. A shiny black gown that's molded to her body then flares out before it hits the floor. The neck line _is_ plunging. But not quite to her belly button, thank god. Other than crisscrossed spaghetti straps, her back is mostly bare.

"How on earth am I supposed to keep my hands off you tonight?" I mock-growl at her. She giggles.

"You are utterly indecent." I sigh deeply. "I'm going to end up in a dual, defending your honor, before the night is over." She fake-pouts at me. I haven't said the right thing.

"You look amazing." I finally say. She beams at me. That's what she wanted to hear. Of course, she looks amazing. I just didn't want to say the same thing as four years ago. Ever since then, the phrase "You look amazing" has ricocheted around in my head. I've wanted to say it every day. Four years ago, standing outside her apartment in the snow, I was taken by surprise by the breadth and depth of my feelings because I had been taking her for granted. Her beauty was only one of the things about her that amazed me. Now I'm no longer surprised by my feelings. I know that she's amazing and I'm so lucky that she's mine.

"You're missing something." I tell her. She lifts the skirt to show me strappy, sparkly heels.

"Nope, I've got shoes on."

"No, that's not it." She looks herself over again.

"Well, nothing else is going to fit in this dress." She throws out the Pretty Woman line. How appropriate.

I pull a long velvet box out of my pocket and hold it out to her. Her eyes get wide.

"Another present? You just gave me earrings this morning!" She shakes her head a little and the teardrop diamonds sway on their hoops.

"I want to spoil you. Open it." I say softly. As soon as she opens it, she gasps. The pendant matches the earrings. A large teardrop diamond solitaire in an infinity setting. It's not really a "work" necklace.

"Can I put it on you?" I ask and she nods. I take the necklace out of the box and as I fasten it around her neck, I explain.

"It's an infinity setting, because no matter what trials, what sadness we've faced, our love will always go on. I wish these were the only type of teardrops you ever had to experience."

Her eyes are swimming a bit.

"If you cry now, you kind of defeat my little speech." I say with a chuckle. I'm getting better at happy tears but I'd still like to avoid them.

"You look amazing." I say again.

"Thank you." She says softly. Then she turns around and leads me back over to the bed.

"Sit down so I can tie your tie." I perch against the edge of the bed. Not really sitting down, just sort of leaning into it. She steps between my legs and I rest my hands lightly on her waist. She goes to work on the tie, smiling softly to herself the whole time, not really looking into my eyes, but sneaking little peaks now and then. That's how it's always been. One of the only intimate moments we allowed ourselves to share over the years. She always concentrated on the tie and I always concentrated on her. But I could never hold her quite this close.

When she's done, she rests her hands on my chest, and looks up at me with the sweetest small smile. I lean down and kiss her gently on the lips. That's how I always wanted to say thank you.

"That was always my favorite thing to do." She says as her small smile turns into a wicked grin. "But now, it's dropped considerably on the list. I guess it's still in the top 5, no, top 10."

I grin back at her. I guess she just wants me to spend the night as one giant, quivering mass of pent-up sexual energy. I just really hope she puts it to good use later. Right now, we really need to get out of this room if there is any chance of us being on time because I'm one more innuendo away from tossing her on the bed and not caring about the consequences.

"It's time to go. Do you have a wrap?"

"Nah, I just figured you'd offer me your coat."

"Donna! It's cold out." I whine.

"Yes, you big baby. I have a wrap. Man, once you get me in your bed, chivarly is dead, huh, bub."

"I'd like to point out that a. that's not my bed, b. I didn't get you in it yet and c. I bought you diamonds. That's gotta count for something, right?"

"Right." She says picking up the wrap, taking my hand, and leading me out of the room. God. I love his woman.


	12. Chapter 12

We join Matt and the kids in the kitchen. I'm happy to see Josh pick something up and pop it in his mouth. He didn't eat much at the luncheon. He's always been more of a grazer. I need to remind Margaret to keep his desk stocked with Almonds or Cashews. Something with a bit of protein. Otherwise he'll just eat junk.

"See my dress Tio Josh!" Miranda spins for him. The dress is bubble gum pink. The top has beads and pearls, and the waist band has a rhinestone design. It does sparkle. The bottom is fluffy tulle. It makes a big circle as she twirls happily. Josh's dimples pop out as he genuinely smiles at her and I get a warm fuzzy feeling watching him interact with her.

"You look very pretty." He tells her. She beams back at him. He turns to Peter.

"We look pretty good too, don't we Peter?" Peter does look handsome in his tux. But he doesn't look convinced that it's worth it. He fingers the collar, trying to loosen it.

"It's tight and the pants are itchy." Josh leans in and says in a conspiratorial whisper,

"I know, and I know you don't care about this yet, but the girls really dig it. So we gotta man-up for a few hours, okay?" Matt looks grateful. I'm guessing that he's already heard some complaints.

Helen walks in and Matt whistles at her. She looks gorgeous. I think we found the perfect dress: appropriate for the First Lady, but not frumpy. Her gown is a silver gray, with lace and beading that makes it shimmer. The sleeves are see through and there is a generous, but not too extreme slit up the right leg. The boutique we ended up using was a dream. The Owner was very excited about our initative. She gave Helen several options of off-the-rack dresses that were new to stock and had not been sold in any size. Then she had her seamstress made some small changes like adding the sleeves and a belt, so that the dress was different anyway. So even if someone bought the same dress from another shop, it wouldn't be exactly the same. This way there is no chance that anyone at the balls will have the same dress at the First Lady. The rest of us are taking a chance that could happen. The owner did work with all of the Senior Staff, ours are not customized, but she promised not to sell any more of the dresses we picked until after the Inauguration. The boutique made a donation to FeedingAmerica dot org. Plus, once she starts selling these styles again, she'll made an additional donation for each dress sold. I think we did well. Annabeth sent out a press release explaining the whole thing about a half hour ago.

I glance at my watch 7:15. "Do you all have coats? We should get going."

The First Family heads for their limo, while Josh and I slide into a limo with Sam and Ainsley. They are snuggled together and giggling.

"That looks like a good idea." Josh says, pulling me on to his lap. He barely gets a kiss before the motorcade starts to pull away. He sighs then slides me off.

"Put your seat belt on." He says fastening his. "Sam, Ainsley, you too."

Ainsley rolls her eyes and Sam looks kind of surprised.

"No one is going to hit us, Josh. We're in the PRESIDENT'S motorcade. They stop traffic."

"Put. Them. On." Josh says sternly. Sam and Ainsley look a little stunned at his tone, but obey.

Josh grins at me. "I've been practicing my Dad voice." I glare at him.

"That's great! Are you expecting? Sam says. Ainsley looks excited.

"No." I say evenly. What on earth possessed him to say that? Especially in front of people! Last month, at my parent's house, we were a little disappointed to discover that I wasn't pregnant, but we are certainly not trying to get pregnant in the First 100 Days of a new administration.

Our first ball of the evening is the "Youth" Ball. It's basically the "Rock-the-Vote" crowd. Helen and I thought this was a good ball for the children to attend. We want to convey the youth and virility of the First Family. Plus the music will be more exciting for the kids. They have a couple big name bands lined up to perform tonight.

Once we arrive, we follow the First Family backstage. As the announcer introduces President and Mrs. Santos, they walk to the microphone, while rest of us gather in the wings. The President begins to addresses the crowd-

"We decided to start our evening with all of you because we want to focus on the future." I send Miranda and Peter out to stand next to their parents and the crowd goes wild.

"Not just for my kids, but for all children. It's time for change and your generation is the one that is going to make it happen. I want to bring some my campaign staff out here-"

We're all lined up to file along the back of the stage, but we send the younger ones out first, Otto, Ronna, Cindy, Bram, Teddy, Angie, then Josh and I stand on stage, but off to the side a bit. This is their moment. The President continues his remarks-

"You know, at times during the campaign, there were people that suggested that my staff might be too young, too inexperienced for this task. But I have faith in America's youth. I have faith in all of you." He gestures to the crowd.

"I want to thank all of you, and all of my staff, for your hard work during the campaign. You are America's future!"

I squeeze Josh's hand. "I don't think he was talking about me." Josh says. "I feel really old standing up here with all of you." I rarely think of the age difference between Josh & I. Other than the last few weeks of the campaign and the first week of transition, he's always seemed youthful and energetic. Since Hawaii, he seems even younger. There is so much of the energy that he had when we first met, but his actions, and the things he says, are tempered by a little more wisdom, a little more understanding about what's important in life. It's the perfect balance.

"He is talking about you! You and Matt may be the old men here, but you are not the old men of the Democratic party! Just wait until the next ball. You'll see. "

Then it's time for the first dance. Matt sweeps Helen out onto the dance floor as Lifehouse begins to sing "You and me." I'm really glad they chose a current song for the first dance. Josh and I get to join them after the first verse. This is our first slow dance in public as a married couple. I might not have got to pick the song but I'm happy it's a good one.

The chorus starts and I send Peter and Miranda out to dance with their parents. They've been practicing and they look really cute. These are going to make great pictures for the papers.

Then a moment later, Josh takes my hand and leads me out onto the floor.

 _Nothing to lose_

 _And there's you and me_

 _And of all other people_

 _And I don't know why_

 _I can't take my eyes off of you._

He bends his head closer to my ear and whispers "It's always been true you know, I've never been able to take my eyes off of you. From the moment you walked in my door, there's never been anyone else that I wanted to be with as much as I wanted to be with you. I'm sorry that for so long I thought there was something to lose by admitting that to myself."

My eyes are watering so I lay my head on his shoulder while we sway. We've danced before. But we always kept it professional. Even still, I cherished each time. We were able to touch each other and able to make eye contact for the length of a song without causing any scandal. Truthfully, we should be dancing more formally now, instead of like it's the first dance at our wedding. But in a way, this is that, and since Matt and Helen are watching us like indulgent parents, we'll give ourselves this one dance tonight, to dance like lovers, and for the rest of the evening we'll be proper.


	13. Chapter 13

Dancing with Donna was spectacluar. If you'd asked me an hour ago, I would have said this wouldn't be a big deal. We've danced plenty of times. Campaign events, state dinners, birthday parties, quite a few Inauguration Balls, in fact. But this wasn't like anything else. Every time I danced with her was special because we had so few opportunities to do something slightly romantic. But before this we're very conscious of decorum. This time we just held each other like we've always wanted to.

But now, it's back to work. Donna and I circulate through out the ball room. These balls are mostly grip and grin. Yes, they are an opportunity to celebrate, and a chance to say thank you to those who helped us get here, but DC is a company town, events like these are always about making and cultivating connections. My pocket is full of business cards.

I notice that Donna is not getting offered very many cards. I'm not sure if that's just because people don't perceive Mrs. Santos as a political force yet, or if they don't perceive Donna that way, or if it's just the nature of the First Lady's Office in general. If it's either of the first two, I think people in this town are going to be in for an awakening. I'm not sure how to find out if it's the latter. Amy wasn't Mrs. B's Chief of Staff during either of the inaugurations. Even if she was, she's been a political operative for too long for her experience to be definitive on the subject. Plus, I try not to talk to Amy if I don't have to.

Speak of the devil. I see her coming this way with her lumberjack. What's his name? I'm searching my memory and just not coming up with it. I glance around for Donna, she'd probably remember, but she's over with the First Lady doing her job.

"Hey." Amy says. She always had a way with words.

"Hey." I give them both a nod. "How's the sculpting going?" See how nice I'm being? What's-his-name smiles at me.

"It's really good. Finished all my commissioned pieces in time for the holidays. Now I'm getting ready for all the summer Art Shows."

Fascinating. Not. Amy holds conversations with this guy? I look over at her and she's looking at him adoringly. Whoa. I don't think she looked at me like that. That brings a real smile to my face. I've known for a while that what I had with Amy was nothing like what I have with Donna. Amy and I weren't soul mates. Amy and I both understand the DC Lifestyle; we're both passionate about politics. The Sex was good. I might even have said great, but now that I've been with Donna nothing else compares. I suppose, Amy and I could have had a power marriage. But I could never quite see myself with Amy long term, even from the beginning. Even when I thought that's what I should want. The truth is that once I met Donna, and even while I was in denial about the extent of my feelings or her importance in my life, there was no one else for me. Maybe Amy has finally found that too.

"Oh. That's great." I say, I hope he's still talking about his art because I kind of zoned out there.

"Hey, Amy. You got a business card?" She looks at me like I have two heads.

"Josh-" She holds her arms out and rotates slowly "where would I be keeping any business cards?" Ah. Good point. A few women seem to be carrying those little tiny purses, but Amy doesn't have one. Come to think of it, neither does Donna. She's always made me carry her stuff when she's wearing formal attire. In fact, I have a tube of lip gloss in my pocket now. Maybe that's why the women don't exchange cards at these things. I guess I'll stop worrying about it.

"Right. Okay. See ya later." I say and I walk away.

I head off to find Donna and the First Family. It's about time to move on to the next ball. When I catch up to Donna, she says

"How are Amy and Landon?"

"Landon! That's his name. I couldn't remember it for the life of me."

She smirks at me.

"That's because anyone you deem to be a rival in anyway get's a goofy nickname instead."

"I do not."

"Dr. Freeride, Commander Wonderful, The Lumberjack. Gomer of the Week."

"Ah. Maybe I do. But I don't consider _Landon_ a rival by any means. He is welcome to her."

"Well from now on start thinking of him as Landon the Lumberjack and you should be able to remember his name."

"Good trick."

"Anyway, how are they?"

"Um, I don't know, sounds like business is good. I guess."

"What did you think of Amy's dress?"

I look at Donna carefully. She doesn't sound jealous. It's always been difficult to gauge how she feels about Amy. She didn't push us together like she tried to do with Joey, but she never exactly discouraged it either. She was more just "resigned." I guess. She did help me make my apartment look tropical when I bailed on the trip to Tahiti with Amy. God. That was a jerk move.

"Well?" I think she is actually curious about what I think about Amy's dress. Maybe it has to do with that whole initiative thing. I suddenly realize, I have no idea what Amy's dress looked like.

"I can't even remember the color." I give her a sheepish smile. "I wasn't really looking at it."

"Good boy." She give me the Cheshire smile. I think maybe just this once there might have not been a wrong answer. But maybe I gave the "righter" answer.

Donna and I make our way over the exit where the staff has gathered to ahead out for the next ball. We're just waiting for Helen to give Peter and Miranda and the Nanny some final instructions before they leave for the night. Our entourage is about to get quite a bit smaller. Besides losing the Santos children, we are leaving Otto and Ronna at this ball. This is really more their scene. All the younger campaign workers are staying here as well. Annabeth, Bram, Lou, Edie, Sam and Ainsley, and Donna and I are heading on to the next ball with the President and Mrs. Santos.

We enter the Commander-in-Chief's Ball amid fanfare and polite applause. As the President rallies the troops with encouraging words regarding the Kazakhstan, Donna and I stand in the back of the ballroom. This isn't the place for someone with no military service to be front and center. After the toast, the President and Mrs. Santos take the dance floor. Several of the Joint Chiefs and their wives join them after the first verse. As more people join the dancing, I lead Donna out to join in. As we are dancing, I whisper to Donna-

"You're right I do feel younger in this room." The average age is several decades older than the average age at the previous ball.

"Well, when we're alone in a room later, let's see how young I can make you feel." Donna murmurs into my ear. I pull her tight to me again and we dance like no one is watching. But I'm starting to get a little too turned on, so I'd better bring some banter.

"Hey, maybe I should see if I can borrow a uniform for later. I hear girls like a guy in uniform."

I feel her stiffen against me. Oh. That was stupid. I just spoke without thinking. Four years ago she should have been at this ball with Jack.

"I'm sorry. My mouth just engaged before my brain."

I feel her relax a little and we continue dancing. But now my brain is fully functioning. I'm wondering if we need to have a talk about Jack. We sort of vaguely covered our exes in a conversation in Hawaii, mostly just to agree that all of them were just place holders while we were trying to sort out our feelings about each other.

I have mixed feelings about "Commander Wonderful." On one hand, I owe him something because talking to him about Donna is what really opened my eyes to my feelings for her. On the other hand, I hate his freaking guts. He let Donna take the blame for that quote, in fact, I bet he encouraged it. Then he didn't even have the decency to keep in touch with her. Well, that part I don't mind so much, but he hurt her. At least I'm the one who got to take her to the ball.

When the dance is done, Donna leads me off the dance floor. Her eyes look sad. Dammit. I hate it when I hurt her. She leads me off to a corner and I pull her close and kiss her forehead.  
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories."  
She smiles gently at me.  
"Josh, you can't protect me from my own past. Sometimes memories are unavoidable. I know you didn't bring it up on purpose." That's the truth. I'd prefer she never think about her exes again. I know I don't like to think about them.  
"This probably isn't a great place to have a conversation about exes. But I hope you believe me when I tell you that I didn't love Jack. I'm really glad that I arrived at those balls on your arm, not his."


	14. Chapter 14

With the kids on their way home, we end up in the President's limo. This is a good chance for us to discuss anything that came up at the first two balls, and to go over our "game plan" for the next five.

"How are you holding up, Helen?" Even though this is a work event, I decide to call her by her first name. I see Josh's eyebrows go up out of the corner of my eye. He taught me how the use of their titles can put them in the right mind-set for doing tough things. But right now it's just the four of us and maybe if she looks at this as a couples-night-out, she might enjoy these a bit more.

"It's been a long day." Helen relaxes a bit and melts into Matt's side, while he wraps his arm around her.

"Yes, it has. But we are half way through!" I try to give her a pep talk. The guys look confused.

"I'm not so sure about your math." Helen snickers at me.

"Well, we've done the first two balls, now we've got an hour at these regional balls, then just two more so we're half way there." I explain my logic.

I turn to Josh, "You know what I mean?"

"Hardly ever." He responds dryly, so I glare at him and pinch his arm.

"Ow." He says rubbing his arm. I really didn't hurt him. He's just being a baby. Matt and Helen laugh at us, and suddenly everyone is in better spirits. I use the opportunity to run down what is about to happen.

"Okay- the next hour is going to go by pretty fast. The regional balls are all being held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. We really will only spend twenty minutes at each. The Secret Service will move us from one to the other through the kitchens. At each ball, the President gives a few words of encouragement and we toast in his honor."

"President Bartlet suggested we skip the champagne." Matt tells us. Helen looks disappointed.

"Just take a little sip, but it has to at least look like you are drinking it." Josh responds. Helen shoots me a wink. I have a feeling she isn't going to just be sipping. I better keep an eye on that. I continue with the run down.

"For the first dance at each of these, we'll send an honored guest couple to join you after a few moments and then Josh and I will join in about halfway through the dance. After that people will start to view the dance floor as open. Once the first dance is done, we'll mingle a bit before we head on to the next one."

Although for the most part the balls are the same as the ones we attended in the past, our roles this time are very different. In the past, it was an honor to attend, a reward, really, and we didn't really haven any ceremonial purpose. We were just there in case the President wanted us and to mingle a little. We are definitely in the public eye tonight.

At the Eastern Inaugural Ball, Governor Baker and his wife join the President and First Lady for the first dance. Josh wants to tread lightly here. The VP nomination could be a battle. We want everyone to see the Bakers with the President and First Lady. And we definitely want at least one good photo-op, but we don't want too much photographic evidence if we can't get him confirmed. Ultimately, we decided the best course was to have Eric Baker maintain his role as Pennsylvania's Governor rather than act as presumptive Vice-President. The Bakers will stay at this ball rather than travel from ball to ball with us. After the dancing, Annabeth gets all of us ladies lined up for a photo. I know she wants some publicity pictures for the website to promote our FeedingAmerica Initiative. We all look fabulous, if I do say so myself! Dottie Baker got her dress at the same boutique so she joins us for the photo. She really is a very nice lady. I feel bad about what Will did to her during the convention.

At the Mid-Atlantic Inaugural Ball, we run into Andy Wyatt. We haven't seen her in a while and she greets us enthusiastically.

"Congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Lyman!"

She immediately envelopes me in a hug. Josh responds to her greeting more formally. He's in work mode.

"Thank you, Congresswoman." Andy smacks his arm and gives him a look.

"This isn't formal, this is family. When are you guys coming to see the twins?"

"How's next Sunday?" Josh asks with a smile.

"Are you serious?" Andy retorts.

"Yes. Completely."

"You're going to take a day off in the First 100 Days?"

"Yes."

Andy looks at him like he's a completely different person. He kind of is. She hasn't really met _my_ Josh Lyman yet.

"Like you just said, Andy, this is about family. The President and Mrs. Santos are very big on family. We won't be working Sundays unless there is an emergency. And this administration has a different definition of that word. So, how's next week?"

"Um, great. Brunch at noon? My house." I smirk at that. Josh hates brunch. He says it cheats you out of a meal, which is kind of funny coming from a man that only has coffee and a bagel for breakfast anyway.

"Noon is great. I hope Bob can be there too."

Andy looks confused for a minute. She must not know the code name. I give her another hug and whisper "Toby" in her ear.

She smiles and says "I'll see what I can do." Then she flits off into the crowd. This is a working night for her too.

At the Southern Inaugural Ball, they have an amazing dessert buffet. Helen and I walk along and stare at it longingly, but neither of us takes anything. They also have servers roaming throughout the room with platters of cookies. It's like they are trying to torture us. The last thing we want while we are trying to promote our initiative is for a paper to run a photo of us stuffing our faces with dessert!

At the Mid-West Inaugural Ball, Josh is in a good mood. He can barely contain himself as we dance. The whole time he's whispering Mid-West colloquiums in my ear, while I try not to laugh out loud.

"Look at that Senator over there, He's schnookered, don't cha know?" There _are_ some people that appear to have had a little to much to drink already. He looks over at another couple dancing as close as we are. "For cryin' outloud, those two should get a room." I just raise my eyebrow at him. Finally, when the song is over he looks me in the eye and says- "I'm goin' ta get a Pop, wanna come with?" His accent is a gross exaggeration, but it's hysterical.

"You betcha!" I say as we leave the dance floor giggling.

At the Western Inaugural Ball, Arnold Vinick is invited to dance with the President and First Lady. Annabeth graciously offered to be his partner when we planned this. Now that they are out on the floor, Josh whispers in my ear- "and I thought you had a thing for older men!"

Sam and Ainsley take the dance floor at the same time we do. They have California connections to maintain, and this is a good way to make sure people know they are here. All night long something has been bothering me about Ainsley. I can't quite figure it out. I just look at her and something feels off. Suddenly it clicks and I get a little bit of a weird feeling. Ainsley is wearing a red dress. I helped her pick it out. I never thought twice about the emails, but now seeing her dancing in a red dress makes me feel uneasy. I really hope that all this talk about red dresses has been much to do about nothing.

"What's wrong?" Josh asks as he sees me staring at her.

"Look at Ainsley's dress." I watch his face as it registers. He frowns.

"I'll mention the emails to Sam and we'll make sure that Ron noticed it too. But the emails were to you, so I don't think it should matter."

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time someone mixed us up."

"What?!"

"Do you remember Todd the Insurance Lobbyist?"

"Not really. But I bet he was a Gomer."

"Yeah, it was a really bad date. It was the night you and Matt Skinner talked about the Marriage Recognition Act."

"Donna, please tell me that wasn't the night you wore that red dress?!"


	15. Chapter 15

Donna's eyes get really wide. I think that maybe it's just hit her that those emails might not be nothing. I'm torn. I want her to take her protection seriously, but I don't want her living in fear either. I pull her tight to me to finish the dance and whisper in her ear "it's going to be fine."

When the dance is over, I look at Sam.

"Would you and Ainsley please staff the President and First Lady for the rest of this ball? Donna and I need a few minutes."

"Sure." Sam says easily while Ainsley looks surprised. Staffing the First Lady isn't part of her job description. The truth is I just want them to stay near the President and First Lady so they'll be under the umbrella of protection. The President and First Lady have extra agents tonight, but Sam and Ainsley don't have shadow guards.

Our own agents are following discretely behind us. Once we are away from the dance floor, I turn and motion one over. "Please tell Ron I need to speak to him."

Ron meets Donna and I in the kitchen at our designated gathering point.

"We have some additional information for you. Something just occurred to Donna, it might not mean anything but we thought you should know." Ron and I both look at Donna.

"Ainsley's wearing a red dress." She blurts out. Ron doesn't look troubled by that but he treats Donna kindly.

"Thank you for telling me. A lot of women are wearing red dresses tonight, I don't think wearing a red dress puts someone in danger."

"There's something else." I interject. "Donna?" I prompt her again. I really want her to tell this. Just talking about it might spark more memory, but she looks like she really doesn't want to tell this story. I squeeze her hand. She takes a breath and starts-

"It's been a long time, it was back when Ainsley worked at the White House. I went on a date. He took me to a fancy restaurant. We had just finished the soup, when I said something about working for Josh, his whole demeanor changed. He kind of yelled at me- 'I thought you were Assistant White House Counsel?' I told him no, I was the Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff. He looked really angry. I was actually glad we were in public." Donna whispers, "I was a little frightened. Then he said 'you're just a secretary?! What a waste of a perfectly good night.' Then he got up and left."

I am livid. "He said what?!" Donna looks mortified.

"Josh." Ron places a hand on my sleeve to calm me, then turns to Donna. "Donna, how does this relate to tonight?"

"I was wearing a fancy red dress for the date. And I'm pretty sure he thought I was Ainsley when he asked me out. If it's the same person, seeing Ainsley in a red dress tonight . . ." She trails off.

"Okay, Donna. We are going to follow up on this," Ron says " This was what, 6 years ago?"  
"Yes. It was after Rosslyn. Before Christmas."  
"What was his name?"  
"Todd. I don't remember his last name, but I could probably find out. He was an insurance lobbyist."  
"And you didn't have any further contact with the guy right?"  
"Right."  
"Okay, we are going to check with Ainsley and see if she ever had any contact with him, and we are going to make sure she didn't get any strange emails recently. I want you to remember something, right now we don't even know if those emails were intended to be a threat. And we don't know if it's the same person. You did the right thing telling me right away, but don't let this ruin your evening, okay? You and Ainsley are both safe."

"Thanks Ron." I say as he walks away. I check my watch we've got about 10 minutes before we need to head on to the next ball. I pull Donna into my arms and just hold her. We can stay here until its time to go. Our agents stand a discrete distance away.

"How ya' doin?" I ask, trying for a light tone.  
"I'm not 100% sure." Donna replies softly. Truth is I'm not sure how I'm doing either. Ron's calm demeanor really does help. Before now, I wasn't super worried about the emails themselves. I don't like them but, like Ron said- they aren't actually threatening. And the fact that we will have a full detail is reassuring. But now there is a possible connection to someone that at one point frightened Donna. I really don't like that. And even though it was so long ago it still makes me really angry to hear of her being treated so poorly.

"Why didn't you tell me about this back then?" I ask her. She sighs heavily. Then leans back a little so she can look at me.  
"You don't remember that day do you?"  
"Not really. I have just a vague recollection of you looking really good in a red dress."  
"You weren't in a good place then. You said some things that night that started making me wonder about PTSD."  
"I did? What did I say?" She looks away. I can tell she's trying to decide whether or not to tell me.

"Donna? . . . Is whatever you are going to say really worse than me wondering what you aren't telling me?"  
She sighs again. "Probably not. But before I say anything else, I want to remind you that this was a long time ago. I promise you- I don't think about it anymore. I know that you love me and I'm a strong, confident woman." That pep talk might have been as much for her as it was for me. I'm pretty sure I'm really going to hate whatever she's about to tell me.

"The President was on the Portland Trip. You had a meeting with Matt Skinner to talk about the Marriage Recognition Act." I'm starting to remember a little bit about that night. I remember drinking beer with Matt in the Mess.

"I had a date. I had changed in the bathroom. You barely noticed. Once you did, you decided you needed me to come back to work after dinner." She smiles softly. Yeah, I believe that. I did sabotage her sex life whenever possible.  
"I said I thought that Todd might be 'the one.' Even though, I already knew he wasn't the one. He was just an excuse to put on a dress for you." She pauses searching my eyes. I can tell she's trying to figure out if I remember what I said. I really don't.

"What did I say?"  
"You said whatever small sense of self or self-worth I might have would always be drowned out by my pathetic desire to be coupled."

I feel like I've been punched in the gut. If anyone said that to Donna, I'd kick their ass. I said that to Donna?

"I'm sorry. Oh my god. I'm so sorry. What a horrible thing to say. I'm a complete asshole."

She's looking at me intently then, suddenly, she's smiling at me.  
"You really don't remember, do you?"  
"No." I say softly. I'm ashamed that I could ever have said something like that to her and I'm embarrassed that I don't remember. But hearing that kind of puts some of our past issues in a different light for me. Maybe it's not quite as hard for me to understand why she didn't know how I really felt about her all those years.

"Why are you smiling? I have an urge to kick my own ass. I'm trying to figure out how to do it, actually."  
"I'm smiling because I decided a long time ago that _my_ Josh didn't say that to me, that was a version of Josh that was in a very dark, hurting place. I'm glad you got better. Hearing that you have no memory of it just confirms what I've thought all along. And I hate to remind you of this, but I'm pretty sure you already punished yourself." She flips my hand over and traces the scar on my palm.

"You know at the end of the night, you told me that I looked good and that I should buy the dress for myself."

"So I wasn't a complete jerk?" I guess that's something. Donna leans up and kisses me softly.  
"No, you weren't a complete jerk. In fact, when I told you that the night sucked, you apologized for keeping me at work. I _did_ tell you that it was a bad date. I just didn't tell you _how bad_ because I was worried about how you might react. Todd never contacted me again. If he had, if he scared me, I would have reported it. You know, now that we've talked through it a bit, I see why Ron's not really that concerned. This was a really long time ago, it probably has nothing to do with the emails. And the emails probably aren't even a big deal anyway."

"Okay. I'm glad you are not stressed out about the emails, although we are going to continue to be very careful until Ron is satisfied that it's nothing. Right?"

"Yes, dear." She says in an obviously placating way, which makes me grin at her. That's fine I'll take it.

"And the other thing, me being an asshole, we're really okay with that too?" I ask her.

"Yes." She chuckles a bit and smiles brightly at me again. "We forgive each other and ourselves for the stupid stuff, especially stupid stuff that happened ages ago! All that matters is that we know how we really feel about each other, and we talk about it."

What an amazing creature my wife is. I am the luckiest man on the planet. I don't like hearing about anyone hurting her, especially me. But I think for right now, I can get back to focusing on what's important tonight. And for this moment, that's holding Donna close and enjoying a few minutes of togetherness while the craziness of the kitchen swirls around us.

"I love you beyond comprehension." I tell her. And I'm going to spend everyday trying prove it.

As I'm standing holding her, I see a waiter come in for a fresh tray of cookies. I motion to him and hold up four fingers and he nods at me. Just then, the Secret Service hustles through the double doors with the President, the First Lady and the entourage. We take stock for a moment and determine that we are all here, ready to move on to the next ball. The waiter hands me a bag and we are on our way. Cookies might not make up for being an asshole six years ago, but maybe they can help show I'm not the same man.


	16. Chapter 16

I notice that Ron gets into the limo with Sam and Ainsley, while Josh and I join the President and First Lady in their limo. I need to switch back into work mode. I want to make sure that Mrs. Santos is ready for the next ball. Most of the major players of the Democratic Party will be at the District Ball. This is the one where we really need to be on top of our game.

"Donna!" Helen giggles. "Where did you two disappear to? Were you making inaugural babies?"

Josh's eyebrows shoot up his forehead and he exchanges a look with Matt, who looks very amused at his wife.

"Helen," I ask gently, "have you been drinking the whole glass of champagne during the toasts?" We just did five balls in one hour. Five glasses is pretty much a whole bottle. That's a lot of champagne all at once. It's kind of a miracle that she hasn't passed out.

"It's a toast, Josh said we've gotta be polite." Helen drops her voice to a stage whisper and looks intently at me. "Gotta do what Josh says, he's very smart. . . . .You should have babies with him."

I look over at Josh who grins and wiggles his eyebrows at me.

"Honey, did you eat anything before we left the house?" Matt asks her.

"Hey!" Helen looks at Matt like she just realized he was in the car. She climbs into his lap. "I've missed you." She says grabbing his face and kissing him passionately. Matt looks pleasantly surprised until she starts to undo his tie.

"Whoa, honey, we're not exactly alone here." He tells Helen, who looks over at us in slow motion.

"Josh! Donna! When did you get here?"

Josh and I manage to suppress our laughter. Helen is a funny drunk. This would be fun if it really were just a couples night out instead of inauguration night. I hope she wasn't like this at the last ball.

"I think we'd better get her some coffee and something to eat before the next ball." I say to the guys. "We'll be entering through the kitchen as usual. We can just delay our entry or we can send someone in to bring something out to her."

"Oh!" Josh exclaims. "I have a surprise for you." He's looking at me but he hands a bag to Helen. She opens it slowly and looks inside.

"Jooooosh . . . . I. love. you." She announces.

Matt bursts into laughter. "Putting the moves on my woman, Josh? What's in the bag?"

Helen grins, pulls out a giant chocolate chip cookie, then hands me the bag.

"Oh. my. god. I love you so much!" I tell Josh, taking a sugar cookie for myself. "How'd you get these?"

"I am a man of many, many talents." Josh responds planting a kiss on my cheek. Helen starts giggling again. He rolls his eyes.

"I asked a waiter for some while we were in the kitchen. You two looked like you really wanted some dessert while we were at the Southern States ball."

"You are very sweet." I tell him, planting a soft kiss on his lips. I break off a piece of my cookie and pop it in my mouth. Heaven.

I close my eyes and lean my head on his shoulder as the motorcade zips as over to the next ball. We planned our itinerary so that we'd have quick trips between these balls. It's only going to take us five minutes to get from the Convention Center to the National Building Museum for the District Inaugural Ball. Not really enough time to get Helen sobered up. It's too bad we were not one ball further along before this happened. We have a little bit longer of a trip between this ball and the next.

I need to think. Everyone is going to know the motorcade arrived. If we don't go right in, people are going to notice the delay. But I'd rather have them speculate on the delay than actually see a drunk First Lady. There is nothing else we can do. I need to call someone and make sure they have some coffee, some water and some sandwiches ready for us. I wonder how long it will take to get her back to ready for public consumption.

I open my eyes and sit up straight. Helen is looking at me and smiling. She doesn't look drunk.

"Ma'am?"

Helen laughs. "I didn't drink the champagne, Donna. I'm not drunk. I just wanted to have some fun with you."

"Oh thank God!" Josh bursts into laughter. "I should have known you were faking when you said I was smart."

"Helen," I sigh, shaking my head. "you are evil. Just for that, I'm going to 'Ma'am' you for the rest of the night."

She grins at me. "It was worth it. Did you come up with a brilliant plan while you had your eyes closed?"

"Not really. I was trying to figure out how much coffee it would take to counter-act five glasses of champagne."

Helen giggles again. I'm glad she is having fun. We pull up in the front of the building and I realize that we are not going through the kitchens after all. It's a really good thing I don't need to try to ply the First Lady with coffee and sandwiches before we make an appearance.

The District Ball is my favorite. Josh and I always tag teamed the crowd, and I always felt really valuable. I also just love this building and all the history.

"Did you know this used to be called the Pension Building? The first President to have an inaugural ball here was Grover Cleveland. It was 1885. The building was still under construction, there was no roof or floor."

"No. I didn't know that." Matt smirks at me. I grin at him. Well, now he knows. Then I turn back to Helen.

"Okay, the first dance is going to be Christina Aguilera performing _At Last_. And you'll be dancing on the Presidential Seal. The Mayor and his wife will be joining you for the first dance. She bought her gown at the boutique also, so after the first dance, Annabeth arranged for another group photo for the FeedingAmerica initiative."This one is going to be pretty amazing for photo-ops."

I smile brightly at Helen.

"I'm pretty glad you aren't drunk, Ma'am."


	17. Chapter 17

As soon as the dance was over, Annabeth rounded the ladies up for a group photo. The President, the Mayor and I spent a few minutes talking about our Education Reform ideas before splitting up to mingle. Bram is staffing the President. We'll get a lot more grip and grin accomplished this way.

I work my way over to the bar and join Sam for a drink. I'm sticking to ginger ale this evening, but I am parched.  
"Do you know where the girls are?"  
"They went to the bathroom, ten minutes ago. How long does it take?"  
I shrug and start scanning the room for them.

Sam looks at me intently. "So, what's going on? It's not every day the director of the Secret Service rides with us and starts asking questions about dresses and emails."  
"Yeah, sorry about that. We aren't making it common knowledge yet because we don't know what's going on. Donna has been receiving some strange emails and they are just following up on all possible leads."  
"You okay?" Sam puts his hand on my shoulder.  
"I'm trying to be. I don't want to think the worse, but I don't want to let my guard down, you know? So did Ainsley ever date anyone named Todd?"  
"No."  
"Has Ainsley received any strange emails?"  
"No. Thank god."  
"You know what you are looking for?"  
"Yes, Ron explained."  
"Okay then."  
"Yeah, okay."

"I always knew he was screwing his secretary."

"Everyone in the District knew it."

A couple congressmen at the bar seem to have had a bit much to drink and are getting a little loud. I look at Sam and roll my eyes, I've never had much tolerance for DC gossip. Why do people feel the need to talk about about other people?

"Although, she really mastered the long game, didn't she?"  
"Yeah, she must have been a great lay."  
"Must have been. She got him to marry her and get her a matching title!"

Sam's eyes bug out and my blood runs cold. They are talking about Donna. I'll kill them.

Then I hear another voice.  
"Hey, losers. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about."  
"whadda you say?" Drunk congressman #1 slurs.  
"I said. You're wrong. I was there."  
"You were in the office when they we're doin it?" Drunk congressman #2 chortles.  
"I interned at the White House. They were completely professional. And Donna is absolutely qualified to run any office after managing Josh Lyman for 8 years!"  
The drunk congressmen decide it's not worth a confrontation, take their drinks and move on, revealing Ryan Pierce at the other end of the bar.

"Obi Wan." He says with a smirk.  
"Sam Seaborn, this is Ryan Pierce. Ryan, Sam."  
"Nice to meet you Ryan." Sam says cordially.  
"Sam, You the new wingman?" Ryan says. I roll my eyes. I've known Sam a hell of a lot longer than I ever knew Ryan. Although, I certainly did misjudge Ryan's usefulness when I had him. Truth is, he's got some good instincts. After his Uncle's advice and our last day together, I've kept my eye on the little twerp. He's definitely becoming a player in the party and it's probably a good idea to try for ally instead of enemy.  
"Ryan's the best intern I ever had." I tell Sam and I see Ryan puff up a little. For as cocky as the little snot always appeared, I think he really did want to learn something. And for some reason seemed to think I could teach him.

"So, you and DONNA, huh? I totally misread that situtation. Although I gotta say, good choice. Amy always scared the bejeebers out of me." Ryan says in his casual way.  
"Me too!" Sam says earnestly and suddenly Sam and Ryan are best buddies.

"After my internship ended, I was the legislative director for Congressman McKenna for two years."  
"You went straight from White House intern to LD? Impressive." Sam responds.  
"He's a Pierce, Pierce." I interject. Ryan shrugs. It's never bothered him to use family connections. "I'm currently a legislative assistant for Senator Bowles."  
"He's a pious old pork hog who votes like a schizophrenic. You're better than that, Ryan." I'm not kidding. I get that he's trying to get both House and Senate experience but if he really wants to be a player he has to chose who he plays for very carefully. I tilt my head at Sam in a silent message. Should we bring Ryan back to the White House? Sam gives me a nod.  
"Are you interested in coming back to the White House? We could use another scrappy legislative assistant, possibly even a deputy LD."  
Ryan smiles genuinely at me. "Yes. I would be interested in that."  
"Good." I tell him. "Call Sam's office Monday and set up an appointment."  
Just then I spot Amy and Landon out on the dance floor. " You know who the Director of Legislative Affairs is, right?" I say. Ryan follows my gaze.  
"Oh man."  
"Yeah." Sam and I say together.

Sam and Ryan continue to prattle on about something. I'm only half listening to them as I scan the room. I thought the girls would be out of the bathroom by now.

Then I spot Donna, dancing, with someone who isn't me.  
"Hell, no!" I say a little more loudly than I intended. That get's my "wingmen's" attention.  
I turn to Sam and Ryan.  
"You know, I didn't think I could dislike him anymore than I did at Ellie's wedding, but seeing him dance with my wife has given me a new appreciation for how deep my distaste can go."  
"So what you're saying is that you don't like Barry Goodwin." Sam responds.  
"Yeah. Not a fan."

"You know what you have to do? You have to go cut in. And punch him in the face! Yeah, that's what you have to do!" Ryan and I both look at Sam like he's lost his mind. He's a good friend, but he's a terrible wingman. We might not like Barry Goodwin, but he is an Elder Statesman in the party. And dancing with Donna isn't exactly a crime. Although if he moves his hand a half an inch lower, I will cut it off.

"Donna is a brillant political operative. She's probably laying the ground work for our first 100 days. I'm not going to undermind her networking." I tell them. Just then Barry's hand slides down a fraction. Well, all bets are off now. I head towards the dance floor, and as he turns her a little, Donna makes eye contact with me and mouths "HELP!"  
Just as I reach them, Barry's phone rings.

"Looks like perfect timing, Barry. I'll just cut in so you can take that call." As Donna and I dance away, I hear Barry say "I'm sorry, did you say Senator Bowles office?" Welcome back Ryan, welcome back.

"Thank you for saving me." Donna says putting her head on my shoulder. We are back to dancing pretty close. We intended to try to stay professional tonight, but we don't seem to be able to help ourselves.  
"Are you okay?" I'm not a fan of Barry's but I didn't think I actually had to worry about him.  
"Yeah, I just couldn't listen to him for one more minute! And he's got wandering hands! Why do old guys think it's okay to touch a woman's butt?"  
Is this a rhetorical question? Does she think I'm an old guy? How often has this happened to her?! Whose ass do I need to go kick?

"It's not okay. Donna, it's not. I know there are way too many men who seem to think it is but, it's just not. I mean. This is part of the reason why I never let anything happen between us while you still worked for me. It's not that I wasn't interested. It's just not okay."

"You're a good man, Joshua Lyman. Let's not talk about this anymore tonight. Okay?"  
"Okay." But I think we are going to have to talk about it in the future. I protected her from me. Did I fail to protect her from others?

"Hey, there's Will." Donna says. "Ohmygod! Classified! I just got it."  
"What?"  
"A few months ago, Will and I were talking about dating . . ."  
"You were talking about dating Will a few months ago?!"  
"Not each other!" She smacks my arm. You know she's more violent now that we're married.  
"It was actually right after you kissed me the first time! We were talking about whether or not it was inappropriate."  
"You were talking to Will about whether or not it was inappropriate to kiss me?"  
"ARGGGH!" She growls at me. "I was talking to Will because I had, like, literally 3 friends. You, CJ, and Will. Since you were being so, YOU, that only left Will and CJ to talk to. CJ's track record as far as we are concerned leaves something to be desired. So I asked Will in general terms if it was inappropriate for a campaign manager to kiss a campaign spokesperson."  
"He's not that stupid, Donna."  
"I know, he told me that he knew I was talking about you. Well at first he thought I was talking about him, but he said he was in a relationship. He wouldn't tell me who. He said it was _Classified_."  
We both look at Kate. Classified. Ha! Will's a pretty funny guy. I like him a lot better now that Donna and I are married.


	18. Chapter 18

We are back in the limo again. I take a deep breath and lean back against the seat. Josh scrubs his hands through his hair. That's the sign that he's tired, although he'll never admit it. I give him a smile. One more ball to go. I think we're both ready to be done.

The Texas State Society's Black Tie & Boots Ball isn't usually one of the official balls but it's Matt and Helen's favorite so they decide to make this one their "home state" ball. Looking over at them, I can tell how excited they are. They are both taking their shoes off and putting their cowboy boots on. Helen's are bright red and look great with her silver-grey dress. I think this is the reason she wanted one with a slit up the leg. Matt's are shiny black. You can't really see them under his pants, but there will be a photo-op where he's expected to show them off.

"Josh. Where are your boots?" Matt asks playfully. When we were getting ready, I told Helen we don't own any.  
Josh blinks slowly at him. "I don't have cowboy boots, sir."  
"Well, good news! I have an extra pair." Matt pulls a well-worn pair of brown cowboy boots out of his bag.  
Josh looks uncomfortable, but he take the boots dutifully.  
"What about Donna?" He whines.  
"Even if I wore boots you wouldn't be able to see them under my dress." I smirk at him. I told Helen I didn't want a slit because of the scars on my legs, but I don't mind that its also helping me avoid cowboy boots.  
"Josh, Josh." Matt says, cajoling, "It's the Black Tie & Boots Ball. You need the boots."  
"I'm from Connecticut, Sir."  
"I know, Josh, but we like you anyway."

I had hoped to close my eyes for some of the 15 minutes it's going to take to get out of to the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, but this is far more entertaining.

When we arrive we are greeted by Texas Rangerettes in Cowboy hats, white boots and red, white & blue outfits. The hall leading to the ballroom is decorated with Texas flags and large cacti. There are people with live armadillos wandering around offering photo-ops. And there is a giant longhorn steer! This place is crazy. Josh leans over and whispers  
"We aren't in DC anymore."

"Howdy!" Matt says as he comes to the microphone. The crowd responds with a "Howdy!" right back at him. "Thank you all for coming out tonight. We are thrilled to join you for the Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball. We have a vision for the future, a vision for better education, a vision for better health care, and our vision is rooted in remembering where we are from. The Great State of Texas!" After the toast, which I notice that Helen finishes in one long swallow, he leads her onto the dance floor. The band starts to play "Your Man" by Josh Turner. By the time Josh and I join in he's able to whisper the lyrics in my ear while we dance, causing me to shiver slightly.

 _I've been thinking 'bout this all day long_  
 _Never felt a feeling quite this strong_  
 _I can't believe how much it turns me on_  
 _Just to be your man_

 _Ain't nobody ever love nobody_  
 _The way that I love you_  
 _We're alone now_  
 _You don't know how long I've wanted to_

When the song is over, all I really want to do is find a room with a door that locks. First, we have to get several pictures, Josh, Helen & Matt show off their boots. Someone gave me a Stetson so I'm sporting a hat instead. When that's finally over I lead Josh to a secluded spot. I think he got the same idea as I did from the song because he backs me into the corner, and gives me a long kiss.

"Babe, as much as I'd like to make out in this corner, that's just not a good plan. You've been a good sport about the boots but now you need to go back and put your own shoes on."  
"It's fine Donna. I'll play along."  
"No- listen to me. We are going to be here a while. Helen has been looking forward to this ball. If you wear those boots all night your back is going to be killing you."  
"Nah- I'll be fine." He hates to look weak. Time to bring out the big guns.  
"I sure hope so because I have big plans for you once we get back to the Lincoln Bedroom. I need your back at 100%."  
"I'll go switch my shoes."  
"Good boy."

While Josh is changing his shoes, I circulate throughout the ballroom with Helen. She seems to be having a good time. Congressman Feld and his wife stop us to make small talk. It's a little tense, but its a start. When they leave, Helen says-  
"Are there any real friendships in this City?"  
"Yes, I promise there are. I know when you find them you want to hold on to them, but we still have to do our jobs. The real ones do survive."  
She looks at me quizzically.  
"I know the Congressman was upset that Matt didn't back him for Speaker, but he will realize that it wasn't personal. The President did the right thing. In the end, their friendship will be stronger because it's not dependent on political favors. Look at Leo and Josh. Leo advised President Bartlet to promote CJ over Josh, how do you think he felt about that? Leo was like a Father to him. But Leo knew that the President needed CJ's voice in his ear for the last 2 years of his Presidency and he knew that Josh needed to move on from the Bartlet Presidency. And look where that got all of us!"  
I'd like to hug her, but not in public, so I place a hand on her arm.  
"We can have a real friendship, Helen." Even though I told her I was going to Ma'am her all night, I use her first name.

"Great! Let's do shots and line dance!"  
"Right now?"  
"Yes!" She looks so hopeful I have a hard time saying no.  
"Tell you what- 15 minutes before we leave for the night, we'll do it. We'll have to do the shots hidden in the kitchen, but I'm sure this crowd would love to see us line dancing."

I see Josh come back in the room and make his way over to the President. He looks like he's walking better now. I love how he looks in a tux. I've stared at him from across a lot of rooms over the years, but I've never felt like this before. On other nights, I've wanted the event to last as long as possible, to savor every moment, for every dance to have just one more verse, for there to be one more toast, one more politician to court. But tonight, I can't wait until we get out of here. I get to be the one to undo his tie. I get to help him slip the jacket from his shoulders. I get to take off the cuff-links and undo the buttons on his shirt.

"Donna!" Helen shakes my arm to get my attention. "You're undressing him with your eyes."  
"He's really hot, Ma'am." I look back over at Josh and he sends me a slow wink and a sly smirk.  
"How much longer do we have to stay, Ma'am?" I ask.  
"Big plans for tonight?" She laughs at me.  
"Well, I thought we might try to conceive in the Lincoln bedroom, Ma'am." She starts to really giggle.  
"You promised me shots and line dancing first."  
"Alrighty, then, let me just get on that." I spot Annabeth across the room and motion her over. Helen continues to smile and greet people as Annabeth makes her way towards us. When Annabeth finally gets to us I fill her in on the plan.  
"Find Lou, make arrangements for a line dance set to start in 20 minutes, and then meet us in the kitchen in 15 minutes."  
Okay phase one.

"What kind of shots , Ma'am?" I whisper to Helen.  
"Tequila, of course!" Helen whispers back to me.  
I shutter. Tequila has never been my friend, but still, onto phase two. We need an insider. I spot Ainsley and wave her over. Sam is our man. Thank goodness he's been glued to Ainsley's side since the District Ball.  
"Sam, I need you to get us 10 Tequila shots and meet us in the kitchen in 10 minutes. He takes Ainsley's hand.  
"Leave Ainsley with us. We'll take good care of her." I wink at Ainsley, but Sam balks at that.  
"She'll be fine." I say gesturing to the agents surrounding us. Sam finally acquiesces and heads toward the bar.  
"Remember, Sam, discretion is the better part of valor!" I call after him.  
We make our way through crowds greeting people as we do. When we finally get to the kitchen Sam is there with the drinks along with Annabeth and Lou.

Annabeth says- "Okay, we've got about five minutes before the band starts a line dance set."  
"Just enough time!" Helen smiles at all of us. She lines up the glasses and limes, then passes the salt shaker around. I guess we are not waiting for the rest of the group.

"To True friends!" She toasts. Then we all lick, drink, and suck.  
"One more?" She grins at us, as she lines them up again. I groan but I'm in.  
"To beginnings!" I toast.  
Just then the President and Josh burst through the doors, followed by Bram and Edie.  
"What the hell is going on here?!" Matt booms.  
"Bottoms up, Girls!" Helen encourages us, downing her shot, like true friends we all follow her lead.


	19. Chapter 19

I can't believe the top women from our administration are gathered in the kitchen doing Tequila shots. All except Edie, since she was with us. Donna doesn't even like Tequila. Well, I guess that's how I know this wasn't her idea.

Matt is glowering at Helen, but there is a smile playing on his lips. He's not going to be able to hold on to the angry husband look for long.

And Sam! Sam was apparently in on it. So he's going to be no help here. I guess that leaves it to me. I'm going to have to be the voice of reason. God. When did I become the mature one?!

"DONNA!" I narrow my eyes at her so she knows I mean business. She opens her eyes wide and blinks innocently at me.

"What the hell is going on here?"  
"I would think it's rather obvious. We're doing Tequila shots." Did she just sass me?! Helen starts giggling. I think it's time for a lecture.

"Did any of you think how it would look if someone took a picture of all of you doing shots in the kitchen? In fact, if taken from the right angle, a photo could make it look like the two of you- I point to Helen and Donna- did all 10 shots! IS THAT WHAT WE WANT IN THE PAPER?"

Ainsley slides up to Sam and wraps her arm around his waist.  
"I don't really like Josh's Dad voice." She pouts to Sam, who turns and glowers at me.

"Sam! Why did you bring them shots?!"  
"Well, Donna told me to bring 10 shots to the kitchen and since there are 10 of us, naturally, I assumed we were all going to do a shot! That's why I had the agents let you know to meet us here. I didn't know these girls were going to get greedy. ONE shot each really wouldn't be a big deal. And there really aren't any photographers back here."

It's silent for a moment. I hope that means they are all thinking about what a disaster this could have been.

Matt's got his hand over his mouth, trying to look serious, but I'm pretty sure he's just trying to hide the fact that he really wants to laugh. I think I saw him wink at Lou, which would explain why she's keeping her mouth shut. She sure as hell wouldn't take a lecture from me otherwise. Truth is it's pretty funny. I do want them to think about the possibility of this turning out differently, but we're okay this time. This lecture is mostly just a show for Donna. She really gets turned on when I pretend to be stern with her.

The music in the other room changes and all of a sudden Helen jumps up and squeals and claps her hands.  
"It's time for line dancing!"  
"Are you serious?" I ask her.  
"Yes. Donna promised me Tequila shots and line dancing before we go back to the White House and she makes a baby with you in the Lincoln Bedroom."

My jaw drops open, and Helen uses the opportunity to rush by me, with Donna right on her heels.  
Matt starts to follow after them.  
"Better hurry Josh. They need to get in a couple dances and then we need to get out of here because you know what happens with Tequila shots? . . . Like the song says.. . _Tequila makes her clothes come off._ "

Oh god. I hope he's joking.

I follow Matt out of the kitchen and directly onto the dance floor where everyone is lined up. Oh my god. What have I gotten myself into?

"Start dancing on the lyrics, just follow along!" Matt calls out to me.

 _Out in the country  
Past the city limits sign  
Well there's a honky tonk  
Near the county line_

Everyone steps to the right, so I follow along, then they all cross behind and step again, but I miss that part. Then they stick their left foot out and hit the heel on the floor and clap. I clap a beat late. Everyone looks at me.

 _The joint starts jumpin' every night  
When the sun goes down  
They got whiskey women music and smoke  
It's where all the cowboy folk  
Go to boot scootin' boogie_

Okay, now we seem to be doing the same thing in the opposite direction. I still miss the cross behind thing but I'm closer to the beat on tapping my heel on the floor. I skip the clap altogether. Hah. No one will know I'm behind.

 _I've got a good job  
I work hard for my money  
When it's quittin' time I hit the door runnin'  
I fire up my pickup truck  
And let the horses run  
I go flyin' down the highway  
To that hideaway  
Stuck out in the woods  
To do the boot scootin boogie_

There's more stepping together, more heel tapping and more clapping. I'm totally lost. I swear I know my left from my right! Why aren't they giving directions?

 _Yeah heel toe do si do  
Come on baby let's go boot scootin'  
Oh cadillac blackjack baby meet me out back  
We're gonna boogie  
Oh, get down, turn around, go to town  
Boot scootin' boogie_

Now there's swiveling, stomping and kicking, At least there's no more clapping, but there is some leaning forward and back. I'm hopeless a beat behind at best. I finally give up trying to do anything like what everyone else is doing and just try to move in the same general direction at the same time. Matt and Helen laugh at me, but they are clearly having fun. Donna seems to be getting the hang of this too, but she doesn't look so good. She's kind of sweaty and pale.

When the music ends I see Donna say something to Helen as she quickly walks off the dance floor. Her agent is right behind her but I still don't want to let her out of my sight. As the music for the next song starts, I make eye contact with Matt and jerk my head toward Donna's rapidly retreating back. He nods so I follow her with my agent right beside me.

"Can you find out where she's going?" I ask him. These headpieces are kind of convenient.  
"Kitchen." He says as he leads me through a back door. A minute later we come upon Donna's agent guarding a door.  
"It's a staff bathroom, sir."  
"Is she okay?"  
"I think she's vomiting." Her agent responds.  
I test the knob and find it unlocked. I hope its a single because I'm going in. Donna is standing in an awkward position a bit away from the toilet. She's hanging onto the handicap rail. All of a sudden she leans forward and heaves. Oh! She's trying to keep her dress clean. Her hair's already up and out of her face, so I'm not sure what I can do. She heaves again and looks like she might fall over, so I rush up to her and wrap my arm around her waist. She's shaking. She heaves one more time but nothing comes out this time. She stands up but then sort of sags against me.

"Are you okay?"  
"Tequila is not my friend."  
"You didn't have that much. And its only been about 15 minutes!" I'm not sure we can blame this on the Tequila.  
"I know. I've never reacted very well to it- then all that line dancing! Anyway, I feel better now that it's out of my stomach."

She walks over to the sink and takes a handful of water and rinses her mouth out.  
"Do you still have my lip gloss in your pocket?"  
I pull it out and hand it to her. She applies it, looks herself over in the mirror, then turns to me.  
"How do I look?" I've got to admit. If I hadn't just seen her vomiting I'd never know. Is this why she always seemed to hold her liquor better than me?  
"Unbelievable. I'd never guess you just finished puking."  
"I am pretty good at it." It's a weird thing to be proud of but she really does seem to be, so who am I to argue?

"So you're really okay now?" I ask as we walk out of the bathroom and back toward the ballroom.  
"Yes. But I'll be really glad when Matt and Helen are ready to leave."  
"If you want to go we can get our agents to take us. I'm pretty sure there are enough vehicles."  
"You'd really leave before the President?"  
"Of course. I told you this morning. You are the most important thing. These balls are just political events. They are not a matter of national security. I'm sure if I told Matt we need to go he'd agree anyway, but if he didn't it wouldn't matter. I'm not going to put the job before you."  
"Thanks, but it's not necessary. I really do feel better. I'm just tired." She pauses, then confesses, "My leg hurts a little." I'm guessing it hurts more than a little. She rarely complains about it, but I notice that she limps a little at the end of the night sometimes. I bet soaking in a hot bath would do her a lot of good. It kind of makes up my mind. I'm going to check in with Matt, if they don't plan to leave in the next 15 minutes, I'm taking my wife home.

Just before we get to the door to the ballroom, I take her arm. "Hold on a second." I pull her into my arms and whisper in her ear "I'd like one more dance. But not line dancing, and not with anyone watching."  
She looks over at our agents and smirks. I love how sassy she can be without saying word. I start to sway a little and I feel her relax against me. These are the moments that matter. I swear I'm going to do everything I can to make this world a better place, but I'm going to find moments like this, and I'm going to grab onto them with both hands.

A minute later the President's entourage finds us. We are swept along with the group and into the waiting limos. The balls are over, but my Cinderella is still in my arms. It's a been a good day.


	20. Chapter 20

Once we are back in the limo, Helen and I both collapse against the guys. Her eyes are sparkling. I think she had a good time. There will be days where this job will probably really wear on her. I'm glad she gets to start it off with something fun.

Speaking of the day wearing on you, my leg has decided it's really had enough. It is really throbbing. I always try to ignore it when it does, I mean four people died! Who am I to complain about a little bit of pain? Take a couple Tylenol and move on is my motto. But I don't have any with me. That was poor planning on my part. I wish I still had a little alcohol in my system, without anything, the next hour is going to be rough. I reach down and slide my heels off. It's probably not proper, but I can't wear them for even one more minute

Josh reaches up and tugs his tie open. Damn. I wanted to do that. Suddenly I feel a giant let down and tears spring to my eyes. I know it's just fatigue. I close my eyes, but its too late. I feel a tear start to slip out. No. no. no. I have to hold on, I can't let go yet. I open my eyes just a little and see that Helen and Matt have their eyes closed and their heads are back against the seat. I pull my legs up onto the seat and then lay down with my head in Josh's lap.

When I look at him and see how tenderly he's looking back at me, another tear slips out of the corner of my eye. He reaches down and brushes it off with his thumb. I close my eyes. I'm not going to be able to keep it together if I keep looking at him while he's looking at me this way. He keeps stroking my hair.

When Josh shows me his gentle side, I come undone. I know he's trying to comfort me but it's kind of just feeding into my pity party. On the other hand, I don't want him to stop. I just wish we were alone.

I manage to keep my meltdown in check with only a few stray tears. When the motorcade pulls up to the White House, I sit up and open my eyes to find Matt and Helen watching us with satisfied smiles. I'm kind of embarrassed. I wouldn't have laid on Josh like that if I knew they were awake. Helen reaches over and takes my hand and gives it a squeeze.

"Thanks for everything tonight." She says. "You two sleep in tomorrow, then let's have lunch all together, as a family." Her family comment almost sets me off on a new round of tears. I've got to pull myself together.

"Okay, thanks." Josh says. I smile back at Helen. I don't really trust myself to talk.

Matt and Helen get out of the car and head up to the Residence. Josh reaches down and grabs my heels before getting out of the car. Then he offers me his hand and helps me out as well. The Senior Staff is gathered just inside the lobby. They all look tired, but happy as Josh addresses the group-

"Good job everyone! Go home and get some rest. Enjoy your Sunday. On Monday, we get to work. Senior Staff at 7:30."

Everyone starts to leave but Josh calls out to Sam, who turns and walks back. Ainsley is leaning against the wall. She looks really tired too.

"Donna and I have another meeting with Ron tomorrow. I'll touch base with you after that. Right now there is no basis for assigning Ainsley a security detail. But if you don't feel safe taking her home, Matt said you can stay in the Residence tonight."

Sam looks at Ainsley but she shakes her head no and whispers "I just want to go home." I know the feeling. I was excited about spending the night in the Lincoln Bedroom and I know Josh is really looking forward to acting on all the sexual banter, but I'd really rather just go home. My body is at its limit.

Once everyone has dispersed and its just the two of us and our agents, Josh takes my hand.  
"Hey. Are you okay?" Josh asks gently. I can see worry in his eyes. I think he can tell I'm on the verge of a breakdown but he doesn't know why. The truth is I don't really know why myself. I think it's a combination of things: the physical pain from over taxing my leg, general exhaustion, and worry over those emails.

I nod my head in answer to his question. I still don't quite trust myself to talk. I squeeze his hand and give him a little smile. As we walk back toward the Residence, I try to ignore the throbbing. Josh leads me over to the elevator instead of the stairs. I look at him in confusion. We never use the elevator.

"You're limping."

"Once we get to the Lincoln Bedroom, he leads me to a chair in front of the fireplace. "Just sit here for a bit." He says. Then he walks into the bathroom. I hear the water start. My eyes start swimming again as I try to hold back the tears. A bath sounds heavenly. I really want to enjoy tonight but I can't think about much beyond how physically exhausted I feel.

Josh returns with a glass of water and two extra-strength pain killers. I take a sip and swallow the pills, then start to set the glass down.

"Drink it all." He says as he brushes his hand over my face, wiping away the tears that I hadn't realized were falling.

"I love you so much." He whispers. "You were amazing today. I'm so proud of you." His sweet nothings do nothing to stop my tears. I'm beyond that now. They are just going to fall until they are done. Josh moves behind me and starts to undo my hair, pulling the pins out and massaging my scalp. It feels wonderful. After a few minutes he goes back into the bathroom and I hear him shut the water off.

"Can you walk to the tub?" He asks as he comes back into the room.  
"Yes" I whisper. I feel like I'm finally in control enough to answer. He takes my hand and helps me stand up. I'm not an invalid, but I appreciate his concern. Once we are in the en suite, he slowly unzips my dress and helps me out of it.

"Hold on." The tears have almost stopped, and I finally feel like I can talk without sobbing. "I've spent a good part of the night imagining helping you out of your tux. I didn't get to do your tie, but I don't want to miss out completely."  
"You were crying because you didn't get to undo my tie?" Josh asks in confusion.  
"No. Well, not just that- I don't know how to explain it. I'm just a little overwhelmed. It's been a long day- physically its taking its toll and my emotions have been all over the place. And I really wanted to have sex tonight."

He grins at the last part. But then he says-

"We have a lot of sex. And I really like it too. But that's not all there is to a marriage. I don't like it when you don't feel good, but I do really like taking care of you. We can have sex later when you feel better."

"But, Lincoln Bedroom- once in a lifetime opportunity." I half-heartedly protest.

"We'll just have to hope for another opportunity. Now. Into the tub, young lady!" His teasing tone helps get me past the melancholy. Bossy Josh gives me something to push back against, and helps me regain control. I stand up straighter and look him over. Damn, he looks good in that tux. He'll look even better out of it. I think we can find a compromise here.

"C'mere." I tell him and he takes a step closer. I take the jacket and slid it off his shoulders. Then I start on the buttons on the front of his shirt. "Take a bath with me." I whisper.

"Okay." He whispers back.

I take off my underwear and get into the tub while he finishes undressing. Then he climbs in behind me so that I can lean against him. We don't really talk, we are both barely even awake. But we are together, and when we are together everything is better.

The tension melts away and I start to remember the amazing moments from tonight. The way he looked at me from across the room. Dancing, in his arms, in public, without worrying about what anyone will say later. Greeting dignitaries from a position of authority, not as some lowly assistant. Laughing with our friends, serving our President. It's been a good day. Once the water cools down, we climb out of the tub, dry off, and climb into bed. I immediately mold myself into his side and put my head on his chest. He wraps his arm around me and strokes my hair.

"That bath was just what I needed. I'm not in any condition to have crazy sex, _Wild Thing_ , but I definitely want to make love with you." I feel him twitch against me, then he leans down and kisses me slowly. Oh yeah. It's been a good day. And tomorrow we get to begin again.


End file.
